Kinks

1.5 way for grip driving. locked diffs (spool or welded) don't handle well but with constant wheelspin on dirt they will be the cheaper option compared with the prospect of rebuilding a mechanical LSD when it wears out. grip driving you definitely drive around the diff if it's locked, IMO it ruins the handling of a car and I wouldn't do it. Probably not quite as bad on dirt but you will get a lot of corner entry understeer near the limit. I suppose going into a tree forwards is better than sideways but i'd rather make it around the corner

your contact patch for 205 vs 225 is actually the same area, so straight line traction should be the same. the difference is the 205's are long and thin and 225's are short and fat, relatively speaking. it's the wider cross-section that helps with cornering grip. unfortunately 225s have too much sidewall flex so turn in feels very vague. also once you exceed the traction boundaries the tyre moves about and again feels very vague, there's not a "limit" as such that you can treat with finesse but an area where traction comes and goes. yuck.

I agree with all of that besides understeer.. My current set are Re001 225's all round and it's quite taily. Maybe just the way I drive tho 205's feel very direct but ultimate grip level isn't fantastic and they look ridiculous especially from behind. 225's look much better but there is a LOT of sidewall slop. I found running 40psi to be reasonable, anything less is horrible. 225's for day to day fine, put 40psi in them unless you drive like a grandma and if you actually want to have fun then strap your 18's on. If I had to choose for day to day driving I would still run 225's because the 205's just look retarded on a sports car. And yes, standard fitment options are 205/55/R16 and 225/50/R16.

I had my R31 engineered for peace of mind, not that it would have done much good if a cop heard the locked diff. but it's a gauntlet you run with modifying cars, that's why my philosophy is to keep the car looking as close to stock as possible inside and out. nothing wrong with a few stealth mods and a subtle exhaust. doesn't have to be loud - mine is very quiet and flows massively better than the stock system any more gains would be 10% flow and 90% noise.

I disagree with saliya that ECU tuning is anything like programming a TV remote. Coming up with every possible combination in a 20x20 matrix does not constitute IP either, just demonstrates a rudimentary understanding of permutations. That set of results is useful to nobody, a good tune is. An ECU tune may fall under copyright laws in the sense that it is data on a storage medium - like a computer file. The right to copy (or protect against copying) is held by the creator of the work, not the physical item (ECU). Similar to owning a book, you own the physical item but you have no right of copy of the words. You do however have permission to "use" the words, similar to how you have permission to use a tune by driving the car. The book analogy isn't perfect - you don't have the right to see the raw data much as you don't have the right to see Microsoft's source code for their operating systems. You're allowed to use the end result but you're not allowed to see the nuts and bolts of how it works and potentially reproduce it yourself. I'm with warps on this one a car enthusiast has a biassed opinion on what it should be because they only see it from their own perspective. Likewise a tuner will only see it from theirs. I see no problem with a tuner locking a tune to protect their investment of time and stop people from copying it, and I see no problem with a car enthusiast wanting access to their tune and portability between tuners. Ultimately the conditions of sale need to be discussed before the tuner starts, so that everybody understands what they're walking away with - whether locked or unlocked.

sounds like you've just described microsoft... but I have helped plenty of people who shouldn't even be allowed to change their background.. in fact their PC is safest with the power lead unplugged

loved watching the schu drive the perfect smooth defensive line he just knows exactly where to put his car without weaving all over the track. basically a message to hamilton "you'll have to drive around me" and you saw how well it worked. schu hung him out to dry on more than one occasion just by racing his line, beautiful.

Yes, the crappy broadcasting sure does wear thin. First 2 races was all "yeah F1 amazing" and then they go back to their usual antics. I also can't stand the two twats they have commentating. Rust always sounds like he's trying to shout, and neither of them ever say anything worthwhile.

cool! i could fill up tomorrow.. don't have a printer but could stop by work on the way to where i'm going and print it using their toner

Exhaust getting hot is quite normal, EGTs are in the hundreds of degrees range even at idle - you can boil water off your dump pipe. Burning yourself starts at only 50C which is about 30 degrees above ambient.. and if you start your car for more than about 30 seconds the exhaust near the manifold will be too hot to touch. As others have said seeing smoke is quite normal. there will ALWAYS be some grease etc on the exhaust after assembly and the first 5 minutes it will smoke off. you will hear it if there is a gas leak. drop your oil return to make sure there's black gold coming through if you're worried about the turbo getting oil, otherwise it sounds like you have nothing wrong +1 for bellmouth dump as well. heard too many reports of problems with split dumps and wastegate fouling or boost creep. I bought a JJR belmouth dump in stainless and the welds were really good - neat and TIG'd. very surprised for a cheap chinese dump to come out that good and I get 180rwkw with no boost mods so it must be doing something right.

I am in NSW and had it engineered.

Yes, given sufficient interest I have no doubt that someone could subvert the in-built chip locks. We're not doing anything top secret worth millions of dollars though so I don't think anyone would go to that effort, they still leave themselves open to prosecution. I completely disagree with the customer being able to request the code though. If you request that Microsoft show you the source code to their operating system just because you bought it, are they legally obliged to? Of course not! It's only software released under GPL where you are obliged to supply your source code. You're correct on the last point - if someone does duplicate our code and starts selling product we have copyright and will prosecute them. I agree 100%, if the tuner is going to lock the tune the customer should be advised of this before ANY work takes place.

yes the claim does seem a bit silly but I believe what they meant was actually changing the tyres takes less than 3 seconds - ie the car is already up on jacks it's purely the remove/refit operation.

We produce PCBs with microcontrollers on them at work and we ALWAYS lock the micro to protect our intellectual property. Why should we do all the hard work and leave the door wide open for someone to plug on, download it all and start reproducing product themselves? A tune is the same, a programmable ECU in its raw state is mostly non-functional (it could grenade your engine). The tuner is what has made the product useful, you have bought a paperweight and he is selling you the labour that turns it into "a working ECU" for your car. Why shouldn't he protect his investment and his company's reputation by making sure nobody makes unauthorised changes to the tune? I'm playing devils advocate here so you can hopefully understand the scenario from the other side of the fence. If I was a tuner I also wouldn't want people messing with the settings on their own and then going "XYZ tuned my car and it blew up" when the idiot has done global fuel or timing adjustments of his own accord. Now, as far as a 1 on 1 situation where you go to a tuner and say "I want my car tuned" you should have an agreement on whether the tuner or the car owner owns the tune - ie whether it is locked or not. Likewise if you want to buy a car with an ECU in it you should ask for proof that the tune is unlocked, or proceed on the basis that it's locked. BUYER BEWARE applies in all cases. Personally I think it's an owner's right to request a tune that they can own - unlocked and free for touchups by anyone. The tuner needs to proceed with this understanding and should they have any trade secrets they obviously won't put them in an unlocked tune because doing so would remove a point of difference that gives them an advantage in the marketplace. I don't see how anyone should have a problem with that.

Great read Ash, thanks for posting it. And to Joe/Security - congratulations for missing the point by a huge margin and making yourself appear... well.. i'm just going to be nice and use the word foolish.

if it falls through I'd be interested in the full set, I'm in Sydney.

god damn i love school holidays.

you start by reading the tutorial/DIY/FAQ forum and finding the thread that details exactly how to remove the dash

doesn't absorb water. the water will collect in your calipers and turn to steam, giving you brake fade at lower than expected temperatures. plus it'll start rusting your calipers having water in there. dot 5 in a road car is a bad idea, use dot 4 or dot 5.1 in a skyline - dot 4 is more than enough for the street unless you're being an idiot. for track or mixed duties go 5.1 for peace of mind.

he is boring as bat shit, bring back mika hakkinen. webber will only win if vettel makes a mistake. i'm glad we've got an aussie in F1 but vettel is a better driver.

Yup. I've heard many reports of boost creep on split dumps. Mostly JJR ones, as it happens, but I'm sure there are others. It is utterly pointless trying to bandaid the situation with bigger wastegate flaps when your gate isn't opening past half way!! A split dump has to be engineered VERY well to work properly, and while it's a nice idea the risk of your wastegate fouling on the dump does not appeal to me one bit. I went for a JJR bellmouth dump and was well impressed by the build quality, neat TIG'd welds etc which is amazing for a chinese exhaust. The $400 metal cat was so messy it must have been stick welded to the flanges, at least the inside was clean. 180rwkw on stock boost. Plus, think of it this way.. a split dump may get you slightly more performance at WOT, if the hype is to be believed. However a bellmouth dump gives you a big open pipe (there is WAY more pipe area for gases than a split dump!) and you get that whole area, LESS RESTRICTION, all the time. So your part throttle fuel economy should be better. It's just better all round, I'm going to stick my neck out and say split dumps are a dumb idea unless you've got a lot of money to spend doing it properly.

awesome vid, nice drift and love the turtle

the problem is that nobody is prepared to make a distinction in the national media that there are hoons (f**kwits) and there are car enthusiasts that are still safety conscious and take it to the track rather than poorly controlled street racing. I think it's perfectly reasonable that a tool is revealed as a tool, I just don't want to be tarred with the same brush.

got a custom sealed fibreglass sub box that goes in the RHS side of the boot, and doesn't come out past the edge of the boot lip. I still have 95% of my boot space and I have plenty of bass. why you'd put a big sub enclosure in a car i have NO idea.

surely you could just point out that you are rick james "bitch" and the cops will go "oh sorry my mistake" so were you on your full licence or P's? if you were on your fulls they shouldn't have booked you, by the sounds of things you were on your P's and you should cop it sweet because you were doing the wrong thing and you know it.