sl33py

So I got a little bit silly in the wet today (in fact about 10 minutes ago) and got particularly sideways by mistake in my R33. I hopped a (thankfully) small kerb and (luckily) plowed into a pile of wood chips - part of some public garden. I backed out, straightened up and inspected: I think my rims are OK, but once I got home and hosed all the wood and junk out of the front bar, I could see that the bar is pretty well munted. Got a few MAJOR structural cracks in it, and I'm just hoping it stays put until I can go see someone to replace it. The steering is also way out of whack to the left now. The lights and everything still seem OK though. someone going the other way pulled over to ask if I was OK which was cool, but the thing that REALLY BUGGED ME, more than the bingle itself, was that some bogan wearing a beanie and driving what looked like an R31 stationwagon (do these exist?) pulled over in front of me I thought he was doing the same as the other person - seeing if I was OK, but I was already pulling off the kerb to head home. Anyway, as I went past, I wound down my window to see what he had to say, and he's guffawing it up and pointing saying 'sucked in!' Now, fair enough I got silly on the go pedal, and I accept that with good humour and the knowledge of an upcoming hit to the credit car. Most of the ppl I've met from on here are nice, but you sir, if you are reading this, are a CNUT! Just remember karma buddy, something's gonna come and bite you in the a55!!!! Anyway, happy b'day me, yay.... heading out to Trojan now to see what they've got in the way of bars....

Hey Gary can u check your PMs? I sent one twice now. If u didn't get it, I'll send a third time. Thanks.

The money pit is screaming for more parts Gary, PM sent lol

You can check your coilpacks very easily. Remove the plastic cover over them. Then go for a 'spirited' drive at night when it's dark. Try to recreate the situation where the engine does its bad thing. Then pull over and pop the hood and stick your head in over the packs. I had bad packs, and when I did this, I could clearly see the spark arcing on 3 or 4 out of 6. Bought new packs, and 100% fixed. Just easy to check this first since it's such a common thing in 'lines.

The dyno's at midnight?!

FAR OUT. #(*%(*%& I wonder if it's just sitting there - I told them to ring me when it came. I'll find out Monday morning when they open, thanks man. I know you've done a lot of hard work for everyone here I'll let you know what happened either way. Cheers Gary.

Hi Gary, you said to let you know if I don't have the kit by now but also that PMs won't get through to you, so I'm posting here as well - I don't have the kit yet.

Hi Gary, still waiting on an R33 front camber kit to arrive at DTS, Belco ACT. Sent two PMs, no reply. 10 days ago you said shipping was delayed due to a company merge and that you would have a shipping number/con note that night or the next day - no response since then. Can you PM me or something so I know what's going on? Thanks.

Great info those who posted it. Those making unfounded recommendations, please REFRAIN - you know who you are

Timma: Re-read the original post. KeyMakeR33: You're right. I was kinda hoping for tuners and those who race and also use their car as a daily driver (so as not to just get the ECU best for power, but also liveability), I dunno who else... but yeah... I don't think it matters any more, this poll is obviously skewed, not because the PFC is way ahead, but because stuffall people explained themselves and as you said I bet heaps didn't read past the first line of the OP, if that. Actually I WAS after posts more like "I had a X but it was so bad I changed to a Y and now it's all good". Even said it in my first post. I know 99% of people wouldn't change ECUs just for a niggly problem here or there. But for example, let's say you're car ran fine and then after a new ECU got put in, it ran REALLY rough in the cold... or just behaved really ugly in stop/stard traffic, then you would obviously take it back to the tuner, but if they couldn't fix it then you'd try elsewhere, until you just decide it's part and parcel of the ECU. Maybe none of them are so bad to have made ppl do things like that. Anyway, I found out my local tuner is looking to get trained on the HKS F-CON V Pro. While it sounds fairly costly (not the most expensive though by far), it sounds like it has the best features of all the ECU's I've read about. It's a while off, but I might let him use me as a guinea pig for a discount Hell... if there's an actual course you have to go do in the US, I'd say he won't stuff the car (famous last words ).

Cool, good luck. Um, hope you didn't vote

Maybe a non-car analogy could get the point across: turbos are like amps for audio. Sure, the amp might be rated 1000W RMS, but if you're only listening in your bedroom and never turn the dial past 2/10, the MAJORITY of amps won't sound anywhere near as good as they do when operating around 7.5/10 - ie. in their ideal power range. Buying a turbo which can make a bajillion kw is pointless because you'll only have it in it's ideal power band at the high revs like everyone is saying. Exactly HOW high depends on the turbo and the rest of the setup, as I expect the OP realises. From my limited understanding, go a (relatively!) smaller sized turbo and if it feels too laggy for you, I think the next thing to try is cams/gears and the associated tuning work to make it spool easier (someone else correct me if I'm wrong). My 2c. I guess a simpler answer is just find someone with each of these turbos (more than one of each if possible!) and just ride in them, see what you feel. BTW how many tuning shops did you talk to that recommended the bigger turbo vs the smaller? ....And this might be opening another can of worms, but my local tuner says comparing a Garrett turbo to an HKS turbo is like comparing 'chalk and cheese.' This is someone whose had several cars in HPI.

That's right. And not just why it's so good, anyone can rattle off specs. We're after things like "I found the the a'pexi smoother in daily driving whereas the X was just plain rough" or "while tuning, I found the new microtech blah model chewed half as much petrol as old model blah did" or "the haltech gave insane power but not in the usuable region (or vice versa)" or whatever. 56 people (and counting) don't read instructions and need to explain!!!

BAMR33, no offence but the intention of the poll was to AVOID votes such as yours. You've only driven one ECU. I'm sure you've done as much research as anyone else who hasn't driven multiple ECUs. Hopefully the PFC votes aren't too skewed out because of similar votes. And others who've voted. What ECUs have you owned before? A vote without an explanation is next to useless.

Damn, that sounds bad

Thanks R31Nismoid! Which others have you had experience with? Hopefully Paul has success with the mods on the RB26 PFC for those who want to take this option! Personally, I'd like to know what "VCT" is and what it affects, as it seems to be the only Rb25 standard feature missing from the modded PFC. Next!

What exactly does the missing VCT mean if you have stock cams? I know it doesn't affect those with aftermarket cams.

Voters... no explanations of why? and what you've previously used? It would add a LOT of meaning to the poll results

Please read the WHOLE original post before choosing, there's clarification here on what I know initially reads as a silly question. Hopefully this hasn't been done before - I thought this would be interesting: Assuming you could choose whichever tuner you want and money was no object, which ECU would you choose and WHY, as well as any other previous ECU's you have experience with. I'm mainly thinking of complete replacements, not piggybacks, feel free to say so if you want to add one of them though. I think we'd be MOST interested in responses such as "I've owned (or driven for a fair while) make/model X and then Y, and finally settled on Z because...". Granted, not many ppl will have driven multiple ECU's in the same car, so I'm relying on the more experienced guys/gals for their input. When I say best, I'm thinking of (roughly in this order): reliability, smoothnes in driving as a daily driver, average power gain, economy (consider the car as a daily driver), max power gain. For use as a fun but reliable 'street' car, not drags etc. I reckon this represents the majority of Skyline drivers. I'm also not considering difficulty in fitting or reusability of original parts from the engine, because (at least for me), I consider all the above things more important: I'll wear buying a $300-400 air sensor/whatever if it gives me everything else the way I want it. Of course, I realise others' opinions will differ, so just say so and qualify your answer for those with a like-mind! I have a R33 GTST so I that's my main 'target' audience with this poll. Especially now with the whole PFC drought. I'm not 100% on ALL the ECU models so I've just named brands, if there is a specific model you want to point out, do so. Otherwise I expect in general there is usually only one or two ECUs by each manufacturer designed/recommended for the majority of 6 cyl turbo Skylines (correct me if I'm wrong). Again, if you're NA and there is a specific model, just say so. I basically want this thread to show the preferences of people after having tried several ECUs. And PLEASE, if you've only driven stock 'lines, or only driven using one aftermarket ECU, or you are tempted to click Apexi just becos ya mate sez the PFC is the best, then DON'T! The less guesses/2nd hand opinions we get in this poll, the clearer an indication we'll get of who the pro's and experienced guys reckon make the best ECUs. A LOT of us don't have the exposure or luxury to see and drive all kinds of beasts. eg. I won't be voting. BTW, I know - it's largely up to each tuner's skill; but let's pretend you had access to a tuner who is knowledgeable with all available ECUs and then answer the question... but there is a definite concensus on here about certain aspects of particular ECU models, eg Microtech chews fuel, or PFC retains more original driveability than others (these may very well be wrong, they're just examples I've seen). If true, these are trends I'm hoping will show up both in the poll and in the responses.

My local tuner has a few Skylines running around town with 300rwkw with an upgraded fuel pump, rising rate fuel regulator and stock injectors (new turbos and other supporting mods too)... he says when I go to upgrade, I can get 250-260rwkw on a "really safe" tune with a similar setup, but he said the 300 ones aren't running dangerously or anything. This is a tuner that's had several cars feature in HPI (but I don't know how much credibility that magazine gets on here). Because of threads like this, I've been wary, and asked him several times about upgrading the injectors as part of my upgrade plans, and every time he says it isn't needed for my aims (even when I say money isn't a factor in the decision).

Tarzan

Clutch is now out of the car. Can mail pictures on request. Price is now $300 ONO INCLUDING shipping within Australia. Make me an offer, I'd rather have some cash than this thing taking up space.

This might be a stupid question, but I thought detailers just gave cars a REALLY good clean and blackened black plastics and shined up parts that are meant to be shiny... From this thread, I gather some do paint work as well! I ask cos 99% of my external paintwork is perfect, but there are a few deep gashes in my bonnet and a coupla chips in each door ( ), which I've always wanted to fix, but don't have 600 bucks for a full bonnet repaint, plus whatever they want to blend the front guards, plus the same again for each door! These are more than just superficial nicks in the paint, they are well through the 'white' undercoat or whatever it is under the silver paint, but I think the metal is still fine underneath. I also have a few other ugly bits (on the CAR! ), primarily on my doors (from people in car parks with no regard for others). Could Details FX fix that kind of thing up? The side of my front bar is also missing a strip of paint 0.5cm wide and about 4-5cm long (plus some much smaller scrapes), can they fix that kinda thing too? Guesstimates? I'm hoping it's a LOT cheaper than full on panel repainting... I think a full body buff is about $200 (going by the panel beater/paint places I asked in Fyshwick), which I was told would get rid of about 3/4 of my problems. I'm hoping to fix all my little gashes and get a buff for 400-500 total. Reckon this is possible from a (DECENT) detailer? Sounds a lot better than 600 just for one panel before any blending etc.

How about some stupid a55h0le driving a red 90-93 celica down ginnindera drive on saturday afternoon, both he and his passenger were taking swigs from a beer while waiting at the lights next to me. CNUTS.

Cadillac! (1959 Ambo of course....)