Kinks

More like I-can't-believe-it's-not-a-mishap. Brother in law buys a boat off ebay for $3000. Hasn't been touched in 3 years, everything is old but mostly serviceable. Family holiday in Port Stephens, brother in law is bringing the boat. We're all new to boats so we get it off the trailer and started, motor off and then pull in for a coffee at the marina. Can't get it started again (hadn't put the choke on), flooded it, desperate call to the mechanic back in Sydney and eventually get going. Bit later, wonder why we're flat stick and when we were only at 1/2 throttle before, turns out a spark plug lead has disintegrated and fallen out. Jam that back in, a few mysterious warning buzzers later that go away when we stop the motor for a few minutes and start up again and we get the thing back on the trailer, and home etc. Take it out another time in Sydney, get home flat tyre, noticed it as I was pulling in it was almost dead. Brother in law says he already had a flat once before the Port Stephens trip (and Port Stephens was done without a spare carried). I take a closer look at the tyres, wow the rubber is f**ked it's all hard and starting to crack. 3 new tyres + bearings thanks! The tyre was full of salt between it and the inner tube which would have destroyed the inner tubes as well. To this day I don't know how they made it up to Port Stephens and back with no spare on ancient tyres that were intent on shredding themselves. They're in the good books with God, that's for sure!

Keen on doing a Tuesday morning thing too. Any idea if it's being run as a motorsport type day with entry tickets etc or is it low key just turn up and find a spot on the hill and stay out of everyone's way?

I'll be in Melbourne, 4 day general admission + schumacher stand on sunday (still waiting for those tix actually, better hustle them).

sigh. just don't be anywhere near me when your "alsum" tyres let go.

I've got one of those difficult surnames as well.. nobody can get it right Great interview Eric, I'm sure it will enhance the image of the club as fun-loving but mature as that's exactly how you came across!

HID kits create a lot of glare for oncoming drivers, the reflectors in R33s simply aren't designed for it. Bad idea.

wire that wastegate shut. ceramic turbines can run 40psi you know.

do it, go on. tell us how it goes.

Need to make a point of difference between a plug, and removing the tire and patching it from the inside. Track a plugged tyre? HELL NO. Track a tyre that had been removed from the rim and a patch applied? Well that's up to everyone's opinion. I wouldn't have a problem doing anything on a tyre that had been patched properly but if you're paranoid then don't. Your safety, your call.

But the AMAZING MOVABLE REAR WING that is REMOTELY ENABLED for the driver's use by a process that is SO COMPLICATED NOBODY CAN UNDERSTAND will surely liven things up in a completely fair and impartial way and not at all like a sandy band-aid just clinging to both sides of the open wound that is formula 1's rules.

shroud should make a massive difference. otherwise you're just circulating hot air around the engine bay not actually pulling it through the core. raised bonnet may help *slightly* when stopped but when underway it will do nothing as the base of the windscreen is a high pressure area and you will not get any air being removed once you're moving. for best cooling when moving you need a sealed bonnet and your underbody plastic guards - these make a vacuum behind the radiator and help suck air through. for cooling when stationary you need a powerful fan (engine driven, not electric) and proper shrouding. and a decent radiator which you've already got.

f**k. I really gotta stop touching myself then.

with an MX5 i'm pretty sure he either can't do one or needs a runup to get one started (first MX5 dig for 2011?)

After watching an engine rebuild "howto" video it was interesting to see that it's not nearly as simple as getting the right parts and putting it all together and making sure it seems to be turning smoothly. once all the prep work has finished just about every stage of assembly is done twice. first time is often done with plastigauge to check clearances and then once you're happy it goes together for real. however, often in checking a later stage you have to disassemble back to an earlier stage to check the part.. so really it's like 5 engine assemblies (or more) to get a complete engine back together. like others have said it's a miracle that so many go together and DO work perfectly. miss just one tensioning step and that bolt is going to let go and ruin your day. engine builder's warranty on a new build is extremely important.

paul what are your opinions on a custom tuned chip? ie dyno + road tune to figure out what the maps need to be for your particular car and then burn that data to ROM. (main downside i can see is that subsequent retunes are expensive).

scraping on sway bar? sometimes they move to one side a bit.

search the forum or look on whiteline's website. i don't think whiteline are doing many springs these days, the king springs are supposed to be pretty close in spring rate.

Jesus dude, you're more anal than me I have no experience with lowering further, when I say no scrubbing I mean NO SCRUBBING. that means punting it over speed bumps and into driveways etc. The standard rule applies that if you take too sharp an edge you're doing to ruin your front bar but that's why I kept it close to standard height. I just seem to clear everything in carparks as well. 33 GTR wheels are 17 inch. I have already posted pics. Again, 17 inch. The best tyre options are 235/45/17 for the front (a very common and cheap size) and 255/40/17 for the rear (more expensive but totally worth it IMO). both tyres and suspension contribute to body roll. get aftermarket swaybars they are the best bang for buck mod you can do for handling. tyres and springs alone won't control body roll.

actually it crunches because there's no synchro. you can have a synchro on straight cut gears no problem. reverse is straight cut because it's easier and cheaper to manufacture (also slightly stronger which means it can be sized smaller and leave more room for the forward gears) which is a sensible choice given you spend 99% of time in the forward gears.

If all the conditions are perfect, you're prepared for it and you hit the brakes just strong enough not to lock up then yeah you can beat ABS easy. But as soon as you "slam" on the brakes in a moment of adrenaline, you're f**ked. ABS wins every time in that 'panic' situation because it gives you the option of steering.

how many beers did they have by then? different octane boosters work by different amounts. i remember seeing that most of them raised octane by a few "points" - a point being 0.1! so 15 points isn't 15 RON it's 1.5 RON.. f**k all. the nulon pro strength one was the best, if you can only get 91RON then i'd put a nulon pro strength in there as well. facepalm. better off on 91 RON? (yeah I know you were thinking about 33gtst but even so). My car runs like an absolute dog on 95RON, even on 98RON it pings on 10psi boost. on 100RON it's fantastic, absolute screamer. Anyone filling up with 91RON and hitting boost doesn't deserve a skyline. the ethanol thing is bullshit, mechanics will just say no to avoid being blamed for anything that happens. ethanol is BAD for marine environments because of the rate it soaks up water and then separates into two layers. In a car it's not a big issue. Plenty of SAUers been running E85 for years and all the rubber etc in the fuel system is still perfect. completely disagree, as above. I have checked and re-checked my base timing and the ECU wants to run more timing than the fuel is capable of.

Yep 360mm centre of wheel to guard is standard height. I dropped around 10mm front and rear with stiffer springs, and there are no scrubbing issues whatsoever with 235/45 on the front and 255/40 on the rear. If you lower the car and use a camber kit on the rear you will need to lip the guards. 245/40 is not the same rolling diameter, it's close..ish.. but I'd rather have an accurate speedo. Also might be an unusual size?? The reason most people go staggered is because on stock rims the car is VERY taily. If you simply add more rubber front and rear you'll get more overall grip but the handling characteristics don't change. It will still be taily it'll just let go at a higher speed. Staggered tyres achieves 2 things - it means less scrubbing in the front (a mate with same setup said 245s scrubbed, 235s were much better) and it means you can get some fatter rubber under the rear to help with traction and balance out the handling. I really like having the extra traction at the back (although the taily part was fun, it gets annoying if you want acceleration!). I upgraded my suspension and then about 3 weeks later did the wheels, and each step made a massive, massive improvement to handling. I'm picky about ride quality and it's stiff but not unreasonably so, and the tyres are perfect there's no issue there. Tyre noise depends on the specific tyre and tread pattern, I had ancient rubber on the wheels when I bought them and it sounded like my wheel bearings were gone (I only tried them briefly, they were totally unsafe). With fresh rubber they're no noisier than the stockies.

On the list of impractical cars, this one mocks all the others. Surely mashing the throttle in that thing would be a quicker execution than anything else humans have come up with so far.

the problem with taking your wastegate feed off the plenum is that it makes the feedback loop very slow to react. when your turbo makes boost it has to fill the outlet piping, down to the intercooler, the cooler itself, the rest of the piping and make its way through the throttle body before pressure starts travelling down the vacuum line to the actuator in order to control boost. you will end up with poor boost control. you are much better off fitting a simple ball-and-spring boost controller like the turbotech one well advertised on SAU and available on ebay. that will keep the wastegate completely shut until the desired level of boost is seen and you can take the boost feed right off the compressor housing meaning your feedback loop is nice and short. it also means you don't have to replumb everything you can just whack the T valve in the middle of what you've got and see if it helps.

word. it's hilarious but I'm glad it's not on SAU.