scathing

He doesn't know much about anything. You don't ever want backpressure in your exhaust, whether your car is FI or NA.

There's more to a car than its engine, and for the record I've driven a car with the Maxima's engine quite extensively. Its just not in a Maxima. And I'd rather get a V8 Calais (or an SS with leather right now, since there's no Calais for the VE yet) if I wanted a sedan with a beefy engine and lacklustre handling.....something that the Maxima is reknown for. The Maxima and Skyline are both four door V6 sedans of approximately the same size. How are they not targeting the same market in Australia? Nissan wants to put the Maxima up against the Falcodores in Australia, and we all know how well big FWD sedans do against RWD ones.

Full Source f**k the Maxima off, and bring in the Skyline. It might actually make me not buy a Chrysler 300C or Subaru Liberty GT if I ever need a four door car, because I'll buy a 380 or a Calais before I buy a Maxima.

The other thing is that most modern supercharger kits tend to use centrifugal superchargers, for packaging reasons, which are inherently flawed in their design. They use a turbine compressor (instead of a positive displacement like the screw type etc blowers) attached to a belt, which means it has all the flaws of a turbo relative to a supercharger, and all the flaws of a supercharger relative to turbos. That said, I'm still debating with myself whether I want to run the HKS Rotrex supercharger kit (for all its inefficiencies) and aim for around 240rwkW (which should keep the car "usable" in the lower gears) or just pull my finger out and get twin turbos on my car. 280rwkW+ is a bit too much for me, I think.

Yeah, its so f**king dodgy when cops treat everyone the same regardless of who they are, instead of giving preferential protection to certain subsections of society. Its not like the justice system they're sworn to enforce is built on consistency and fairness, after all. Its a bit of a shit that you copped grief from the cops, but it shouldn't matter if you're some Allah-worshipping Aborigine or the Prime Minister as to how you're treated. You're either doing something legal, or you're not.

The Z33 uses a +30 offset on their front rims, but I have seen people run wheels with a +15 over them. But then your problem isn't clearing the brakes, its clearing your springs. Find out what offsets your current rims are, and how wide your spacer is. A 17x8 would be R33 GT-R wheels, right? Its still going to be hard to give you advice. You've got hubs from 1 car, brakes from another, and wheels from a 3rd. Unless someone else has done this combo, giving you exact numbers will be difficult.

Best rotors and pads I've used? Project Mu. But you'll pay for them. I am quite fond of Ferodo DS2500 pads. They work well enough when cold, but will handle some heavy abuse. Not sure about a bang-for-buck rotor, though. I've used DBA slotted and cracked them, and I know guys who've cracked 4000s and 5000s. They are the biggest name in Australia for rotors, though.

Technically you lose power on both. Its just that a turbocharger has less loss than a supercharger. There are single turbo kits available for the VQ35DE, but most are like the APS kit in delivering power in a big "hump". They also delete the factory's twin cats and run test pipes, which means if you get EPA'ed you'll get shafted. Since most of the catbacks for the V35 are twins, which means you'll need a custom exhaust anyway. There's a guy in Sydney looking at doing a single turbo on his 350Z, and will add a 4" cat himself into a custom single pipe exhaust. Supercharging will be far more cost effective. The kits are cheaper, its less invasive, and can practically be done with hand tools. And you won't need to upgrade the support systems the kit doesn't replace. The OEM clutch will not handle the 280rwkW a TT kit makes. The viscous LSD may also not have the strength required to provide the traction you need. Its also a pain trying to find room for an oil cooler. While you don't make anywhere near the power with the supercharger (most of them run 3-4psi), there's still enough power to make you clearly faster than a NA car. There's not so much power that it overwhelms the chassis, which is a good thing. You can write off 1st and 2nd in the dry if you're hard on the throttle on OEM sized tyres with a TT kit, and 3rd in the wet. The APS TT owners I know run a minimum of 275 width rears, and a few of them use Comp-R's on the street. (Note: Most of my experience is with the 350Z, but since the Z33 and V35 are almost identical most of this information is still applicable.)

Any FI kit that fits the 350Z will pretty much fit the V35 (not sure about the 3.0L engines). There are minor differences, but if you go turbo it generally replaces those bits anyway....namely the intake tube. Most of the TT kits I've seen make 260-300rwkW. The big ones are Power Enterprise, APS and GReddy (although Jim Wolf Technology has released one recently). Of the three, the APS is the most complete and its the only one that's ADR approved. Its not cheap, though, and in Australia can only be fitted by an APS approved dealer. I know of at least one APS TT on a 350Z in Perth. The owner had their car shipped to Melbourne for APS to install before shipping it back, but since APS no longer does retail work I'm not sure what options you'll have. Supercharger-wise, the HKS Rotrex unit is quite solid. You're looking at around 225rwkW with a catback. Do a full exhaust on it, and you'll probably see a bit more. Vortech also does a centrifugal supercharger kit for the 350Z, which CAPA sells in Australia. That's rated at 210rwkW, but its possible there's no intercooler in that setup (the "quality features" is a bit ambiguous). There are other supercharger kits, but they're generally US companies and not well supported down here.

The front of the CLS is....OK. What I'd like to know is how the Australian motoring press, who panned the AU Falcon for being hideously ugly and droop (it was) washes the taste of 3 pointed shit from their mouths after the felching they give the CLS about how good it looks....considering the cars look almost the same from the back.

The flywheel was the only thing I changed. All the documentation I've ever seen says that lightweight flywheels will lose engine "inertia". I probably phrased it wrong in parts above. Acceleration is meant to be better everywhere (I get the feeling I just had my reaction times off with the stopwatch), but when you're trying to hold a specific speed a heavier flywheel will do a better job of it. Since its performing as advertised, I'm fine with it.

Only low in the rev range, to my notice, and only when you're cruising. If I'm pootling around in 6th gear at 60km/hr, there are some hills where the OEM flywheel could get up the hill without lugging the engine in that gear. These days, I have to use 5th. For example, if you drive north up the Pacific Highway from the shops at Lindfield on the North Shore. That's no longer a 6th gear at 65km/hr hill. I need 5th, or 80km/hr, to stay in 6th without having to use a lot of throttle. But, if I'm on the Old Pac I honestly don't notice the missing torque when I'm WOT going up the hill. And the dyno graphs are pretty much no different on power runs before and after the install. If we can keep the engine in the torque band and you're constantly on the throttle, its not an issue. Its only when you fall off the torque curve that the lightened flywheel starts being a penalty....but then unless you're in 1st you can just downshift and get back up into the revs.

That's true. The revs fall quicker, so you're not waiting as long to rev match when you're shifting up. And, when downshifting, the engine flares a lot easier when you give it a blip on heel-toe. I did some in-gear acceleration runs before and after (same stretch of road, same amount of fuel in the tank, same weather). Ease the throttle in to load the car up to hold the minimum speed, and then floor it. I was using a hand stopwatch, but I did about 3-4 runs each and averaged the times out. In 2nd gear from 40-80 my acceleration times were slower after the flywheel. In 3rd gear from 80-120km/hr my acceleration times were higher. I was so surprised at the results of second gear that I did it twice (so 6 runs) - couldn't even match my old times. Still, it definitely does make the engine more responsive. I'm running a stock clutch so the feel is no different. I'll occasionally stall, but unless you were told you'd have no idea by launching it that the flywheel wasn't factory. I let a mate with another Z drive my car, and he only noticed something was different when heel-toeing. He probably didn't notice the acceleration difference since he's come out of a supercharged one. As for economy, on the motorway when I'm driving interstate the economy is about equal. But, around town, the economy is a little worse. Some 6th gear hills are now 5th gear. I have to shift at 2500RPM instead of 2000RPM. Economy loss or not its still worth it, but if I could do it again I'd buy an 8lb flywheel (I've got a 14lb one in there at the moment, and the OEM is around 28lb). The current one is so user friendly it may as well be stock, so I want something faster.

Animals are mostly out between dusk and dawn. No animal aside from humans are generally stupid enough to be wandering around the desert during the middle of the day. The only time we encountered wildlife was when we were driving back to the resort in Uluru from one of the places nearby at night, and there were a pack of kangaroos jumping across the road. It was dark by then, and luckily I wasn't driving at that point because chances are I would have been doing 130km/hr and wouldn't have been able to stop in time.

I don't think a lighter flywheel gives you better economy. Its worse, if anything. I'm running a flywheel that's have the weight of OEM. Because I now have to drop down a gear to go up hills I could ignore the shifter in previously, and I'm having to rev the engine harder from a standstill to stay on-torque, my economy has suffered.

So you're saying that a front mount, with its greater restriction due to the larger core size (for the purpose of this comparison we'll say that a unit length of core between the OEM 'cooler and the aftermarket one is just as restrictive to airflow), and its increased plumbing length, is more responsive than the OEM side mount? Interesting......

Rumors are that Ferrari is also looking at developing an AWD system that's RWD most of the time, and only channels torque to the front wheels when needed. When I read this month's Motor, all I could think was "Welcome to where Nissan was 15 years ago". Then again, Ferrari's been crapping on about how advanced their e-Diff is in the F430....something that the Honda's already dropped when they discontinued the ATTS equipped Prelude. But, in the same way, I don't think Ferraris should be AWD either. Its not a part of their branding.

I think its a valid question. The last NSX did quite well considering it was RWD. And there are some pretty quick RWD cars out there on the market. And, as a pure tarmac-based sports car, I would have thought RWD would make for a better choice. Like one of the other people on that forum, I think RWD would suit the spirit of the NSX far better than AWD.

Who else would be stupid enough to rip out the air con, sound deadening, etc from his car and still call it "daily drivable"? 1025kg wet, I think is its current weight. He has added a full cage into the car as well, which is one of the few weight adding things in the car. There's quite a bit on his build-up here. He's aiming for under a ton. If he can source fibreglass panels on the cheap, he should hit it without a problem.

I'd say go now before the new speed limits kick in, but with a turbo car you'd be better off going in winter.

I can't find my camera now, so no pics from the DRC dyno (yet). In the interim, here is my dyno run at CRD. Its not ruler straight, but well within the bounds given standard experimental error. Certainly a lot straighter than RH9's

Are those Silvias streetable at a ton? What's been done with the lightening? I know of one NA S13 that's been stripped out of all "unnecessary" parts (no panel swaps), while still being moderately streetable, and its still over a ton. Considering the car's under 1200kg stock that's a good gain. I don't know if weight reducing a Skyline will be much better. A Skyline has more sound dampening and creature comforts than a Silvia, but at the same time there's also a lot more car with bits you can't get rid of. SK's also running a race car. He's probably hit the limits of what you can affordably strip / replace from the car already. Just like with powering up an engine, the first couple of kilowatts cost you peanuts...but at a certain point trying to make a few more reliable kilowatts is going to cost you a fortune.

On topic, I've heard good and bad things about both places. Which is true for almost every workshop. But both places generally have more positive than negative reviews, so in the end its probably going to boil down to whoever charges you less.

I have opinions on plenty of things I don't have first hand experience with. I've never fallen off a motorcycle with no helmet and landed face first onto the asphalt. But I have seen photos of people who have. Does that mean I can't offer an opinion as to whether its going to hurt or not, because I only saw some pictures on the Internet? If everyone took that attitude of only trusting what you've personally experienced, we'd probably still be living in caves. Sir Isaac Newton (you know, the guy that came up with the theory of gravity and the basic laws of physics) once said, "If I have seen further [than certain other men] it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants." He didn't feel the need to prove anything to himself - he took the conclusions of others, decided if they were plausible, and ran with them. Have you personally compared the strength of titanium against steel with a scientifically rigorous test? If you haven't, would you be unwilling to offer an opinion of which is stronger for the same weight because all you've got is hearsay?

Either way, all I know is that the NT government can go f**k themselves. I went up to Uluru around 3 years ago, and the best part of the trip was hitting the SA/NT border and flooring the throttle.