Kinks

You need a DIN pocket if you're trying to fill a double-DIN stock stereo. If you're just talking about an aftermarket head unit that is fractionally smaller than the OEM one and the fascia doesn't match up then use grey/black adhesive foam, you can buy rolls of it from the hardware store. put a strip between the h/u and the DIN pocket and it looks perfect

^^ Yep, spot on.

terrible excuse terrible excuse the only good reason you've mentioned uhhh how about NO. Any tyre that might blow out shouldn't be driven on at all, unless you're going straight to the tyre shop at a moderate speed. if a tyre shop has looked at it and said don't worry about it then it should be fine, it doesn't look pretty but i'm no expert.

^^ they got the balance of power, mechanical grip and aero right in GP2. I've seen some amazing races. It is tough though, and I think they are going about it the wrong way by making stupid rules. F1 is supposed to be the pinnacle of motorsport, making engines and gearboxes last a whole season is silly. They don't do that in drag racing engines only last about 4 seconds in top fuel! your post should have ended there... I love a good Webber stack!! And he doesn't usually make me wait long either!

this man speaks the truth..

Forget the oil filter that's on there, any monkey could have grabbed a random one that threaded on and used it. I don't remember seeing a Z442 in the reference book, I have a series 2 and it definitely uses a Z145A filter. 1998 was the last year of the R33. http://www.noelsautoparts.com.au/FILTER%20CATALOGUE.pdf This book lists RB25DET in two date ranges, 91-98 and 98-on. 91-98 is the R33 and uses a Z145A filter, 98 on is the R34 and uses a Z442 filter. The Z442 will be no good on your R33, the thread will be wrong.

In my last car (Charade with full exhaust/pod/camshaft etc) my mates wouldn't get out until I had bounced it off the limiter at least once. Thing used to pull like crazy for a 1.3L (the torque curve was dead flat from 5k->7.5k redline it revved its t*ts off!). R33 still has standard exhaust but I just love the sound when you touch the limiter. Not one for every day though, and certainly not bouncing it off all over the shop got far too much mechanical sympathy for that. when cruising I generally shift around 3-3.5k.

Got tickets for christmas, I'll be there

yeah fairly local. I feel bad bagging them because I can't fault their customer service - they were always very friendly - but I don't go to a mechanics to make friends, I go there to get my car serviced.

yeah don't assume he is jerking you around until it becomes obvious he is. but the next few days will be very telling. call the insurance company and cancel the policy, they should give you a full refund as there is a cooling off period for insurance policies. call the bank and cancel the loan, they should have a cooling off period as well. then chase this guy for the cost of the flights and your deposit refund. i think $600 out of him is a fair price and unfortunately you got stuffed around trying to buy a car but if he pays for your flights then he has lost out by withdrawing the sale.

Yep some of them are just plain lazy. Had my 100k service done, the next day the fan belt starts squealing on cold start. No biggie, new belts always stretch. take it back.. "it's the power steering belt give me 10 mins mate no dramas see you later" next day it squeals again. go back, they tighten it more and say it's at the end of the adjustment range if it squeals again we'll order a smaller belt (wtf?). i ask if it could be the alternator belt but he insists it's the power steering. drive home. greeted by a small puddle of oil under my car in the morning. book it in again. car comes back "we THINK it's the cam seals, replaced them for you no charge". engine continues to drip oil for 3 days then it stops. belt squeal comes back. book it in again, they change the power steering belt. next morning it squeals again. meanwhile the car has also been using water, i have topped up the overflow reservoir about 4 times since the service. decide to DIY rather than lose another day of having the car at the mech's. it's a new belt so maybe it stretched. tighten the P/S belt with no effect. next day, time to prove it's not the P/S belt. remove P/S belt and start engine - big squeal. kinda hard for a belt to squeal when it's sitting on my bench! tighten the alternator belt, refit P/S belt with less tension than before (i wound it up pretty tight) and no squeal issues. f***kign hopeless mechanic dropkick idiots!! car has also stopped using water, at least there is nothing major wrong the lazy f**ks just didn't bother to bleed the system when they did the 100k service, so they gave it back to me with about 2 litres of air in the system. great. never ever ever use those cockwads again. and if they haven't done the 100k service properly and my timing belt lets go I'm sending them a bill. seriously if you can't even tell which belt is squealing you should be flipping burgers at mcdonalds.

remind me never to buy a car off you

under the car, RHS of the gearbox about 2/3 of the way up. There are 2 switches one is the neurtal switch the other is the reverse switch. They screw into the gearbox and have 2 wires coming out of each.

gold

Bolts up fine on R33 S2, you will need to make a slight modification to the plastic guard underneath the intercooler, due to the R34 item being a thicker core the plastic guard won't quite go back on and you need to cut it so the corner of the SMIC can poke through slightly. Easily done.

it won't be O2 sensor timing belt or spark plugs/coil packs. none of those will cause the whole engine to die erratically. it sounds most like the fuel pump is dying but if it's not that, could be a fuel pressure regulator but i've never heard of them going. if it's not fuel related it has to be electrical, an intermittent connection either to fuel pump, ignitor pack, or ECU is making everything cut out at once. or it could be a CAS/AFM problem I guess. Unplug them and plug them back in - just in case the connection is dirty.

Unless you're arguing that this tint does NOT reduce your headlight's light output then my response is an enthusiastic "meh". "Looks white at night" just means the tint is colour neutral. Big deal. It's still dimmer. ADR approved or not it's still a silly idea.

I made a new battery compartment cover out of MDF that bolts onto the existing mounts that the push-clips used to go into. The amp is bolted to it, and it was a bitch to make but the end result is great.

I was doubting the wet performance a bit myself, they feel very confident on the freeway but easy to slip at other times. Interesting that others have found the same thing maybe it's not just me. Overall a bloody good tyre for the price. And they're still very safe in the wet I just would have liked a bit more grip

remind me never to buy seats off you.

Why are GTRs not fitted with oil coolers here? Perhaps it's because Europe has better roads and average speeds are faster (especially Autobahns). Sustained driving at high speed would push temperatures up. According to average max/min temperatures Japan gets hotter in summer and colder in winter than here. Saying Japan doesn't get hot is a myth. However Sydney has some mild days in summer and some stinkers, Japan may consistently be around the 30C mark during the day and seldom get much hotter.

a one/two way mirror (heard it called both) only works because it has a thin metallic film on one side that reflects light in the bright room, making the window seem like a mirror. Therefore you can't see anything in the darker room because the reflection is brighter. there's no such thing as a material that's "one way" with light.

great thread but IMO you need a much bigger CAI hose to make it worthwhile. kinda limited by having the stock piping still there but you're only going to pull a small fraction of the engine's air through that hose.

I put on Bridgestone Adrenaline RE001 at ~$180 a corner for 225/50/R16 (red hot deal that one), and from pricing things up 235/45/17 was about the same price as my size so I'd expect you'd find them for $200 a corner without too much trouble. Good grippy tyre, can still spin/slide in the wet but I think I'm being unrealistic asking for more in a tail-happy RWD car Certainly grips well in the dry and brakes well in the wet. Feels very confident on the freeway in torrential rain so that's good enough for me.

drift oil filters? maybe they're designed to leak oil so you can get sideways more easily and the knock is your engine rattling itself to death. coopers filters are very good quality, keep using them.