scathing

That's closer to flamage.

I'm pretty sure my ECU reflash didn't require the ECU be pulled apart. My flash only adjusted the rev limiter, not AFR or timing, but the software will allow it if someone learns how to find out what codes correspond to what settings. And, do it!

It cracks me up a bit when people make replicas of replicas. I remember back when Hybrid was the one making the knock-off intercoolers that copied JDM designs, that people only bought on a budget. A year or two ago I saw "replica Hybrid" kits on eBay. The rolleyes I made at people making a copy of a copy was monumental, and also made me more than a little depressed about the state of humanity. What's next? A Chinese car "inspired" by the Kia Rio Sport-Pac?

I'd agree with you there. Some people delude themselves into thinking they're buying good shit just because they bought it. I don't know if its because they're insecure and need to make themselves look discerning, or whether the bar lowering mentality that so many plebs have these days are actually seeping into the enthusiast circles. People need to harden the f**k up, and deal with reality. If you're buying stuff that's cheap and of low quality, then face facts. I wanted to put Drifteks on the SW20. My requirements were: * Strong enough to survive Sydney roads * Look good * Cheap The Drifteks meet those requirements. The SW20 won't ever hit the track, let alone hop curbs or chase tenths, so the high weight and their potential inability to take repeated high load abuse is irrelevant. I wouldn't go around saying they're good quality sports wheel, but they are a good looking commuter/cruiser wheel.

On topic, just get the Drifteks unless you're chasing fastest possible times or you're planning on tracking the car on a regular basis. They're strong enough to cope with the rigours of the public road at sane speeds. They won't look as ratty and need repair/resprays as used wheels inevitably do, and I reckon they look good. They're not as ugly as some random "no name" wheels out there.

The thing is, your second (or third, or fourth, you'd never really know) wheels might have been on cars like yours, that get bounced off ripple strips or otherwise given a hard life. Even if they've never been bent that kind of stress is going to fatigue the metal, and you don't know how strong its going to be when you get it. I wouldn't buy her worn jewelry either, with scratches and chips and f**k knows what biomatter stuck to it. Dude, that's not flaming. That's not even a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel.

...because people who use the phrase "player hater" deserve everthing they get. You're probably not African American, and even if you are you're not in America anymore. If your attitude of admiring street racing and rubbishing legal, off-street, events is what gets you "love" on Aus Rotary then that just says what a shit site Aus Rotary is, and how retarded the people on that forum are. It happens on this Skyline lovers forum because the people here aren't cock-bags.

If you want a GT-R, get a GT-R while you can still appreciate (and run) it. The V doesn't even compare.

I bought a Swift GTi as a daily runabout. Like you say, the 1.3L sips petrol and being so small its easy to park. Mine doesn't have air con but they did sell some that do. It's also a shitload of fun to drive. The reason I didn't suggest it is because its old and, being a "desirable" hot hatch, will come pre-thrashed.

I believe so, yeah. My mate's engineered S15 has a chunky exhaust on it. I also spoke to my g/f's colleagues about the light thing - there's no ADR against "headlight cancel on high beams". If you seriously want to investigate an engineering cert for your car, drop me a PM and I'll send you her work's contact number. You can work out with them what can and can't be done.

Depending on your budget and power goals, you could even consider getting a VQ35DE out of a V35/Z33 and turbocharging that. The "206kW" engine will deliver 280rwkW reliably with stock NA internals on most available TT kits, which will give you a shedload of response and a usable amount of power. There's no replacement for displacement.

There's plenty of things that need to be done on grey import cars that change it from stock in order to comply with our ADRs. Otherwise, there would be no need for a Compliance process. The fact that every compliance company has "missed" this, while still having their cars pass Compliance, says to me that its not actually illegal.

Same. I remember when I was looking for wheels for one of my cars, and I wanted Work Emotion CR Kais. ROTA's were only fractionally cheaper than Work's, new for new. ROTA Torques = $1850 Work Emotion CR Kai = $2200. I'll admit that $350 is not an unsubstantial difference, but it's still not enough of a cost saving for me to go for a wheel with so many anecdotal failures over a wheel that doesn't.

R&M Automotive in Hornsby sprayed my SW20's new bonnet (it wasn't the right colour when I bought it). It matches the paint well.

I'm going to throw this out from left field and suggest a brand new Hyundai Getz. It won't pass your "not girly" requirements, but it ticks all the other boxes. It's light on fuel (official 6.1L/100km rating). It'll be new so no idiot's driven it into the ground, which will help with reliability (as will the warranty). The car has the full plethora of safety features (ABS, ESP) which is good in a daily, especially if you let people who can't drive that well borrow it. The head unit plays MP3s off CD or a USB drive, and has a Bluetooth handsfree kit. Importantly, it has air con. My girlfriend's work has one as a runabout. The seats are pretty hard and the plastics are bin-like, but aside from that its not that bad as something to just drive for a while and sell in a few years. The other issue is that the 5 door RRPs at $15K drive away ($13K if you go 3 door), but you might be able to talk them down. It's above your $10K limit, but all the mod-cons and the lack of headaches from not being pre-abused by some idiot might offset that extra cost in your mind. P.S. I don't work for Hyundai. Getz_Brochure.pdf

What you got defected for would, in the eyes of most laymen, qualify you as more than just a little modified. The exposed pod is the most common defect cops hand out. Some cops in a bad mood will even defect you if it is boxed in. If he's hit the sirens and he's done it in the course of his duties (i.e. pulling over another potentially defective vehicle) then he's allowed to do it, and its not "illegal". another beautiful skyline, Sunflower yellow GTS which was lined up behind mine 10 minutes later. Then we all got to drive out to the checking station together. Bike cop, my pearl black r33 gts, sunflower gts, bike cop. A bit slack that you didn't cop a warning for such a minor thing, but then bureaucrats tend to get anal retentive about the small things. I'll have to find out myself, since one of my cars does the same thing (it's also a grey import). I'll drop my g/f a message, she works for a company that complies/engineers cars and so her colleagues know the ADRs backwards. Yep. Not sure what the reasoning is behind that, but I know its a requirement. Not sure why that's a WTF. Too-dark tints make it hard to see stuff at night that's not illuminated. There's a reason why all those tint companies push the "darkest legal tints" line in their ads. Your car had a stock valve to help reduce wear on the turbo. That's not a defect. It's the specific valve you chose to use, and didn't get a engineering cert for, that is illegal. Does your BOV vent to atmosphere, or recirculate back into the intake? If its the latter it should be legal, and if not then its also a shame they didn't give you a warning for it. Do you have to do an emissions test at DECC? If so, you're pretty much f**ked. If you're running stock engine management, the intake and exhaust mods you've done will have the car running mega-rich. Even with aftermarket management, you're going to struggle. Noise-wise, you could weld in baffles to get it to pass the dB test, and then get them removed afterwards. Most of the time, if you get emissions tested you have to return to 100% stock unless you've got a tuner who knows what they're doing and your parts aren't ridiculous. I believe Hitman offers a service where he'll do an initial tune the car and go with you to DECC, and for that flat rate he'll tune the car at their testing station until it passes. I'd suggest that, after your car gets cleared by DECC, that you drop a few hundred dollars extra and get an engineering cert. One of my mates almost got reamed hard in his yellow S15 a week or two ago by some cop with sand in his vagina, until another cop checked his engineering cert and told the first cop to piss off.

Torque's that irrelevant thing that people who don't like rotaries seem to be obsessed with.

As a rule of thumb, "cult following" is a euphamism for "weirdos who like dumb shit". Notice how all "cult movies" are rubbish? Seriously, though, the 4AGE is good for what it is. Some of the good ones pushed 100kW, which is not a bad figure for a 1.6L engine now, let alone back in their day. They're also very physically compact, which is why you see them getting dropped into kit cars. They did get used for motorsport, so you do find a fair few mods for them and mechanics who know how to build the engines up. I would have suggested a N15 Pulsar SSS but they are a bit long in the tooth, and Nissan build quality isn't fantastic. They did come standard with everything you'd need in a daily (air con, power windows/mirrors) and the SR20DE isn't a bad motor. Any Nissan hatch after the N15 isn't even worth considering.

Slotted is OK for racing. Cross-drilled is not. If you have a look, few of the top-tier modern racing teams run drilled rotors. Dominic Chen from Endless USA did a blog post ages ago. He took it offline due to perceived bias, but its been copied and posted here

Don't quote me on it, but I heard that was the going rate from somewhere. ModYourCar has King Springs at $166 a pair for R34 springs. $332 isn't that bad. You can do your own research off that link to find out how much the lower and superlow springs are from them. I'd suggest contacting King Springs directly if you want something custom made. JustJap sells BC Racing coilovers, which are rate and height adjustable, for $1300 new. I have no idea how the ride or handling is with them, but the cost isn't that great.

Buy new springs. You can get custom wound springs to any height you want, and if I remember correctly they go for around $250-300. Otherwise, there have to be off-the-shelf items that list their "height drop from stock" values, and find one with a mild drop. Look at a stock R34 and decide how much lower you want your car sitting compared to theirs. Make sure the dampers aren't dead while they're out, as worn dampers will also have the car sag a bit.

II wouldn't trust second hand wheels in a non-streeter "performance" setting. You have no idea what has happened to those wheels in the past, and the cost of failure is quite high with wheels. I sold off a set of TE37s, one of which I bent heavily. It's impossible to see after the repairs, but it'd be nowhere near as strong as you'd expect. I don't even know if it'd be as strong as a never-bent cast wheel. Second hand Jap wheels are good for a street car that isn't thrashed too hard but where you can still enjoy the lighter weight, and great for bragging rights, but not something I'd consider for "serious" performance use.

Friend's in the same boat. She saw a Mazda3 in that price range. Same with some Mark IV Golfs. But, in terms of reliability, its hard to go past a Corolla/Civic.

People will fall for anything these days if it has an official-looking web site. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4534017/

You can't have a cage in a location where an occupant can possibly strike their head. Your options are to get a removable cage, and only fit it for off-street events, or delete the seating positions where the cage is permanently installed.