MLCrisis

Hi, Guys. I thought I had worked all this out, but from looking at some dealers' websites and stuff, I am now confused. Some have suggested that all Series II R33 GTSTs are M-Spec. Which was news to me, but I thought "OK". I have now seen others suggesting that you could get R33 Series IIs and R33 Series II M-Specs. Previously, I had seen people suggest that there was only an M-Spec version of a Series I, and that all Series IIs got whatever goodies the M-Spec had (whatever they were). My main interest in this is to determine what spec my own car is, which is a 1997 Series II. Can anyone help me with which is what? I have tried to download the Nissan FAST software, but failed miserably. I understand that the M-Spec has a limited slip diff as standard (supposedly). As I have just had to replace my right rear tyre (loads more wear than the left), I suspect that mine is not a limited slip diff. Any thoughts/pointers would be welcome (and I have got nowhere with the search button on this one! And I have long since read the Series I vs Series II threads). Cheers. P.S. I think I have demonstrated my confusion by writing a really confused question! So, in summary: Is there a Series II M-Spec? If so, what distinguishes it?

Ahem! If I could interject with an answer to Kenhuang's question, then you can get back to arguing ...... I went for a Series II for three reasons: 1) Dual air bags, 2) ABS Brakes and 3) a Series II of anything is usually better (though not always) because the manufacturer is simply improving a proven product. Choosing your own mods, rather than inheriting someone else's, is definitely more expensive, but may give you more satisfaction. It may not, but there you go. There are plenty of second hand bolt on goodies around which would keep the cost within reason. Hope this helps. Cheers.

I would suggest that it depends on where, when and by how much! Meanwhile, I am not sure whether public confession can be painted as being helpful to others, but I don't think it is worthy of flaming by others who are holier-than-thou. :innocent: For what it's worth, my driving record over 21 years had a fairly inauspicious start: DUI - 5 weeks after passing driving test. I was half a sip over the limit, at a time when everyone drank aiming to just stay under the limit. I missed! Speeding - which is what they pulled me over for in the first place. 55 mph in a 30 mph limit (big wide, empty road, late at night). Exuberant, misguided youth! Since then: Using a vehicle with no road tax (UK) - it was left on the road outside my house for a week, while I was away, and it had terminal starting problems. WPC Eva Braun didn't see it that way. The neighbours who reported it knew which house it was from, but didn't bother knocking on the door to ask my mate about it. They just called the cops! We had just moved in, too! Speeding - 48 mph in a 40 mph limit. (UK) Then in Oz: Ran a red light - just arrived, not used to timing - went through 0.1 seconds after it went red! Nothing for 7 years. Then 137 km/hr in 110 limit (overtaking a truck south of Bunbury - in a Commodore Wagon). Failed to stop at Stop sign (PC Goebels & PC Mussolini said I had to stop completely at the line. Apparently 2 km/hr after waiting stopped behind another car isn't good enough.) Two more $50 dollar speeding ones. Then 126km/hr in 110 zone in the Commodore Wagon again (Country cops with nothing better to do than fine city types on their holidays). Only one in 18 months in the Skyline, just a month or so ago, 74 in a 60 zone (big wide dual carriageway, with no traffic - just pulled out from a side road and booted it a little - I was actually slowing down!). And everything had been going so well! Fairly average for the period, I reckon. It is interesting how times have changed. If I was 17 now, I wouldn't dream of drinking when I was driving. And I always drive around Mandurah in the Skyline - never through it! :Paranoid: Cheers.

Hi guys. I once read a reknowned motoring writer who said that cars should be only black, white or red (and that's fire engine red!). I reckoned this could be modified a little, especially for sports cars. I would add silver and, perhaps for a Ferrari, yellow to that list (not sure about the yellow - especially if it's YELLOW!!). Having said that, the plum purple Skylines look awesome. And a good British Racing Green is nearly black anyway. I have owned three red cars - and chose them that way. Hell, look at the Nismo 400R. Looks pretty cool to me. Cheers.

Oz_Dazza, I am considering a similar question (and I am sure it has been done to death, so before anyone flames you for it - try the "Search" button!). My own situation is that I already have a nice '97 R33 GTST, with a 3" cat back 'zaust, pod filter and CAI, and I am about to embark on further upgrades - 3" dump/front pipe & high flow cat, followed by SAFC II, followed by FMIC. I hope to be able to do it for under $3k. Buuuut, the dilemma: For low $30,000s, could get an R34 GTT, or with a few more dollars (hopefully:cheers:

Totally agree! There have been some very interesting debates on the radio and in the media internationally about this "Speed kills" crap. The people who are leading the field of road safety research say that to focus entirely on one contributory factor, i.e. speed, completely undermines the argument, as it is rejected by the majority of motorists who recognise that this is oversimplistic. One of the other factors at play is that many motorists think that this only applies to those who can't control their car very well - and not to them, as they are, of course, above average drivers! The advert currently on telly showing the difference in the last 5 metres before impact of two cars, one at 60 km/hr and one at 65 km/hr, is the only effective argument I have seen. It actually gives you a reasonably complete picture. But where even that falls down is that if you teach drivers to anticipate the road situation ahead, to look out for warning signs, to be cautious in some situations, then you will have improved their ability to hit the brake pedal earlier and avoid the impact completely! The majority of road deaths in WA are caused by cars hitting trees (over 60%). So should we ban all trees? No - just improve driver education about driving tired, because the majority of those who die against a tree have fallen asleep! (These are from Main Roads WA statistics.) You could also improve road design in urban areas by putting the light poles and other road furniture on the inside of the bend - but that's another story. Cheers.

Sorry, Steve. If you read the article at the top of this thread I am amazed you can suggest it is beating up on import drivers. It mentions the cars involved in a factual manner, without any prejudiced adjectives. The library picture shows a Commodore racing and the cop refers to "the two vehicles". As Newkleer, and others have said, this particular report is not bashing import drivers, it is highlighting risk taking by young men in cars - any cars! The Age article quotes recent statistics of road fatalities being dominated by young men. What they don't say is that it has always been the case, since Adam first found the gas pedal. Did you know that in a survey in Europe about drivers attitudes to other drivers and perceptions of their own abilities, most men under 35 thought that the average driver was really poor and most of them thought they were above average. The really interesting one though was that, of the drivers under 25, 75% of them thought that they were above average for their age group - never mind everyone else! My point is that young men have been taking risks for ever and will continue to do so, no matter what media, politicians, girlfriends, Mums or anyone else says. Where society rightfully gets involved is where their risk taking affects others. I wouldn't knock proposals for compulsory defensive driving courses - any increase in driving tuition is bound to be of benefit. Such proposals are a damn sight better than poorly structured and ill-balanced anti-hoon laws. Moan and groan all you like, but unless you take part in the public debate with the media, you not going to change anything! This forum and associated clubs have a place in arguing the case for us all to continue to enjoy the cars we love, by fostering responsible driving on the roads and keeping the racing to the track. Tell that to the media. Tell them that this forum is the 4th most visited site in Australia and tell them that we ARE fostering the right attitude. If you keep telling them, the message will get through. If you simply indulge in paranoia, Commodore-bashing and whinging into your beer about the media, then how are they to know any better. Cheers.

Hi guys. What is your experience of aftermarket fibreglass kits? Are they worth the bother or do they crack and splinter within twelve months of buying them (which I have heard from a few quarters). If so, are they worth the hassle of continually having to nurse them and fix them? :Oops: The OEM kits are all urethane plastic and much more durable. I know that some aftermarket kit makers, such as C-West, make plastic kits - but are they worth the expense? I also enquired with a local Nissan dealer about factory sideskirts and, Yes, they can supply them, but for over $1500!!! Are you better off saving $$ with a fibreglass kit and being careful where you drive? I am not keen on the fibreglass, but would welcome any experiences from those who have them. Cheers.

Hi guys. I am looking for a supplier of aftermarket plastic sideskirts / bodykits. I stumbled across a company a while ago, which had pictures of them twisting a urethane sideskirt. Naturally, I managed to lose the link (working on another computer)!!! Any one any ideas where I can find such gear? Cheers.

Geez guys, some interesting driving styles here! A coupla points: Double de-clutching up and down the box was the norm until some clever chap invented synchromesh for your gearbox. Down the box, you stick in a rev of the engine. Up the box, you don't. As described by others, aim is to match speeds. When driving a car with a crash box (so called because so many people got it wrong and crashed the gears!), to be in the right gear for a corner or whatever, you had to brake at the same time. Some clever bloke realised that if the pedals were arranged appropriately, you could work both throttle and brake at the same time with your right foot. My Dad, who learned to drive on a car with a crash box, when double de-clutching was part of the UK driving test(!!), always told me that double de-clutching on a synchro gearbox wore out the synchro. Back in the Sixties, he was probably right. These days, most boxes will take whatever you throw at them. Coasting in neutral is illegal in many countries (dunno about here). Reason being that the brakes could fail / fade, but also many of your power assisted systems are just about in the operational zone., i.e. barely working! So if your car has power brakes and PAS, then coasting in neutral means you are on the verge of them not working. Also, your engine may stall (especially Skyline! see all of those threads about low rpm stalling!) - which then leaves you with no PAS or PAB. Not good! Using the gearbox to slow down will increase your fuel consumption. Stay in a higher gear as long as you can and change 5th to 3rd or 5th to 2nd. If you want to have fun and pretend you are Fangio/Stirling Moss/Jack Brabham/Ayrton Senna/Michael Schumacker/all of the above, heel and toe and blip the throttle to your heart's content. And by the way, if you are cornering in the 'burbs, with the revs in the meat of the boost range in 3rd - you're speeding! One other thing - with a turbo car, watch your revs in the corners, if you come on boost half way around a corner in second (even on about half throttle) you could lose traction. Not pretty to enter someone's garden backwards! Here endeth the sermon! Cheers.

Well you could always take a lead from the French lorry drivers and farmers! How about a drive through St George's Terrace? Or maybe a go slow on the freeway at peak hour! Make up your minds what you want, you can do all sorts of things. But the article in the local rag about Reprazent was really good. Showed the import driver in a good light. Well done to her! As I have said before, this is bad law. A constant flow of critical articles, letters, emails, whatever, will get there. You don't reverse laws quickly, no matter how bad. Whether you like it or not, the State Liberals might turn out to be your friends in all this. Get working on them! Cheers.

Hi guys. I have a little knowledge of refineries and the chemistry involved. My understanding is that the BP Ultimate is refined as a 98 octane fuel, which means that the crude cut used as the base fuel is at or near 98 octane. Whereas the Shell Optimax is a base 95 octane fuel (or maybe 96), which then has various additives mixed in to boost the octane level. This way, Shell save on refining costs, but have more additive costs - the refining costs will be the bigger of the two! Any gasoline fuel, if left for a long period in an atmospheric tank (which all station tanks are), will "weather" - i.e. they will gradually lose the more volatile components (it's all a matter of vapour pressure and the tank "breathing"through the vent). This will generally cause the octane of the weathered fuel to be reduced. Hope this helps. Cheers.

Patchy, I am sure there is some truth in what you say, but I would be surprised if 20% of a tanks contents could be considered to be "dregs". If station tanks, pumps and filters are properly maintained, this should not be an issue. Clearly it is with some, though. Cheers.

Hi Guys. There is another thread going in the General Automotive about different fuels at the moment. I just left a message on that to direct people to the thread below from back in May. There is a fair amount of discussion in it, but some quite informed views. The main thing to note for us in Perth is that every last drop of fuel that you buy in Perth originates in BP Kwinana. Shell, Caltex and everyone else buy the raw 95 ron Premium off BP and add their own soup to it to make it theirs. Shell claim their standard premium is 96 ron, but they are starting from a 95 ron basic fuel, bought from BP. So anything else that they gain in octane rating is achieved through additives. BP Ultimate is the only thing to use! Here's that thread: http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/sh...ead.php?t=38750 Cheers.

Hi guys, See this thread - it should add to the level of discussion. Here's the thread: http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/sh...ead.php?t=38750 Cheers.

See Post No. 25 in this thread. Otherwise, just read the thread. You'll get the idea. This is the last reply I am doing to this thread of this ilk. I was only staying interested to see if anyone else posted any pics or had any mods to the things or performance measurements or similar. I think it is time the thread was closed. The offer is over - it was pushing the limits to be defined as a group buy in any case. Moderators - wodja fink?

Guys, See the very first post in this thread and then give UAS a call. It's all done through them. Cheers.

Surely it still makes some sort of noise? All the insert does is act like a whistle and change the tone, I would have thought. So how quiet is it? Cheers.

Hey, Mike. I have an HKS SSQV on my R33 as well. Adjusting the valve simply changes the point at which it activates, it doesn't change the sound. I recently fitted a purple insert, which I got from Xspeed (have a look on their website). This reduces the frequency of the sound, so it is less piercing - net effect is it is less noticable. Dead easy to fit and dead easy to lose one of the grub screws!! (There are eight, but you only undo four to get the cover off!) You can also get a gold insert, but that doesn't change the sound - it just adds rice-value. Meanwhile, if you are concerned about the effect of venting to atmo, then you can get a plumb-back insert instead, which converts your ssqv to plumb-back mode. As for the low rpm stalling, the concensus seems to be that this is due to the Oxygen sensor being stuffed. The effect of your BOV venting to atmo might not help, but it is not the primary cause. I have never had any problem. Hope this helps. Cheers.

Hi, guys. I looked into putting vents in the bonnet and I am still very interested, but I was told by a couple of people that adding vents is against the ADR and that the cops are hot on it. Also, it is unlikely that the pits would pass them. I haven't got around to asking the inspectors at one of the WA pits, but I will try to in the next couple of days. Apparently, from a previous thread (can't recall which), they have two concerns: one is when the vent is facing backwards, they reckon you could get an oil leak that would spray oil onto the windscreen, thus hastening your demise through lack of forward vision. Second one is when the vent is facing forwards, all those nice sharp edges are not pedestrian friendly for those occasions when someone drops in unexpectedly for a little ride on your bonnet. It seems that the powers that be are none too keen on fibreglass or CF bonnets, either. It seems that these will tend to shatter and rip to bits this pedestrian who insists on hitching a lift on the front of your car. I can understand this with fibreglass/GRP, but thought that this would be less the case with the stronger CF. A bonnet lift will definitely not be passed by our mates at the pits - as far as I am aware. I am still keen on pursuing vents. I like the R34 V-Spec vent. :aroused: I was also thinking of linking a vent to a cold air intake - the rain over the bonnet will definitely not be as bad as any splashes you get from a low mounted pipe in your front guard vent. I am also looking at adding GTR vents to my front guard - the ones either side of the number plate. This should work on an R33 GTST SII and may give another option for the cold air intake inlet. Meanwhile, P1E do you have any pics of your vents? Cheers.

Clearly you guys have never driven a convertible! All this crap about "it's gay 'coz it hasn't got muscle"! You have no idea. If you are car enthusiasts, then you should appreciate them in all their guises. Don't be so one-eyed about the type you happen to drive or you will just end up like the falcadore lovers who have stupid stickers showing someone p#ssing on the rival make. Some fixed head coupes are great - like the Skyline - many drop head coupes are great too. My favourites, in no particular order: Triumph Stag - you can actually tune that V8! And it has four real seats, which is kinda good for someone who has to carry kids, their mates and a load of cricket gear most summer weekends! Aston Martin DB6 Volante - just wondrous. Mustang '66-'68 convertible - the only Ford I would consider! AC Cobra - my mate had a really well made replica with a 351 Cleveland in it - awesome car. The real thing is just amazing. Aston Martin Vanquish Volante - dreamland :headspin: Austin Healey Spite Mk. 1 - 1959 to 1962 - the "Frogeye" - I spent one happy summer with one. Those of you who think kilowatts is everything (like the one who can't understand the Lotus Elise!) won't understand this! But what a fun car. Some cars have something about them. Whether they have a Japanese turbo engine or not is irrelevant. If you can't appreciate that, then I suspect you still have some growing up to do! Cheers.

Hi. I finally got around to fitting mine - piccies attached. My R33 is a '97 Series II. The fit is not perfect at the edge of the grill, so it sits a little high, but a minor mod would fix it. Anyway, it does the biz for me! ..... and I couldn't resist the sticker!! Cheers.

Step 1: Go to Post No. 1 in this thread. Step 2: Write down phone number. Step 3: Note instructions in Post No. 1. Step 4: Make phone call and ask the nice man your questions. It isn't that hard. I received mine within a few days of sending details. But the post was specific - deal with them by phone, don't do your dealings through this thread! Hope that helps. Cheers.

Cheers, Gojira. No worries. Just to add to the mix, I have received a follow up message from a different Shell contact, which refers to the first note. (See attached). This confirms for me that the first note is genuinely from the Shell organisation. This note implies that the identification of mobile phones as a problem is confirmed by the analysis of problems with static, which as you guys have observed, is not the case. Whether the three cases that they referred to in their first note have been proven or not is worth finding out. I shall endeavour to do so through the contacts that I have. Cheers.

QUOTE (Ronin 09The ignition temperature is the temperature required for a liquid to continue to emmit vapors which can and sustain combustion. Petrol will ignite when a heat source or electrical spark of [b) at least 853 degrees comes in contact with it[/b]. Thanks for that, Ronin. I agree with almost everything you say (although my credibility on the overall topic is clearly in question!). My understanding of the science of ignition of a flammable mixture is that it is the energy available has to be sufficient to start the combustion reaction. This can come about from contact with a hot surface, as one means. Autoignition temperatures are generally lower than hot surface ignition temperatures , as another means. Sparks and static discharges are different again. (You can get a PhD measuring the temperature of a spark, if you really must.) You can have a spark without significant change in temperature for the surrounding material and that spark can contain a lot of energy. For example, you can be electrocuted from a light switch, if your hand is wet and you are standing on a wet floor. So it is conceivable that an otherwise low energy system can produce a spark sufficient for ignition of a flammable mixture. Whether a phone would or not is clearly a moot point. But your keyboard is accepted as one potential ignition source that would not be allowed in a hazardous area. As I said, I am checking back with the guy from whom I got the note. Incidentally, the note came with a video clip of a girl getting back into her car, with the fuel dispenser nozzle locked on, then when she got out and touched the nozzle, there was a flash fire. Fortunately for her, a small one. Static, not a phone. But there you go. Cheers.