scathing

Dunno what its name is, but yeah good tyre shops will cover the sockets in plastic. If you've got a good relationship with the tyre shop and they don't have the plastic sleeve, ask them to put tape over the sockets. At home I wrap mine in masking tape or race tape. If they're lazy and don't know you they'll either give you lip service or tell you to get stuffed, but if you get on with them they might take the extra 30 seconds. I've only found a couple of places that are willing to take care to not damage wheels. I was really happy to deal with Tyrepower Hornsby when I got my TE37s. Not only are their sockets plastic sheathed, but the guys there actually wrapped my metal valve steps with cloth so they could screw them in with pliers (or whatever tool it is they use to grip it) without scratching them. They also made sure they were careful moving the wheels on and off the car. They also knew not to airgun-tighten my RAYS wheelnuts, which puts them well above most knuckle-draggers working at tyre shops.

Not that difficult. As others have said, it's really easy to wind up the wick on these things with no hardware changes. A mate of mine in the UK has a Seat Leon Cupra (same Golf V platform). With an ECU reflash and stock everything else, he's pulling 220kW at the flywheel and more torque everywhere. He took me for a ride in it, and its a weapon. On a rolling start, "chipped" Golf platform turbo cars have the ability to embarrass much "finer" machinery. It's nearly always on boost, pulls all the way to the limiter, and makes very good power for the size. The vRS also has some pretty nice suspension. If the front end wasn't uglier than a sack full of poo, it'd make a good "stealth daily" for someone who wanted a Golf GTi without the lairiness.

Did this thing have VDC?

One of the guys on 350Z-Tech is trying to arrange a cruise in Sydney - when something concrete comes up I'll post a link.

What did you search for? This is what I get when I search for the self-explanatory "+sydney +service" on this forum: Results 2, 3 and 6 in that short list of results seem bang on what you want. If you opted for the alternative "+sydney +servicing" instead: 3 of the 5 results would give you the answer.

I say the exact same thing. The only NA Skylines worth buying are V35 350GTs or KPGC10s. Ignorant? They're not the guys who bought a non turbo R34. Giving you crap for it, as impolite as it is, puts them on the correct side of the "should I have bought a RBxxDE powered car?" question.

It used to be. I think they changed it after people pointed out that any non-factory exhaust would technically "alter the performance". So any P plater with an old car that can't buy an OEM one due to it being discontinued would be up the creek. Extractors are less noticable than a catback. They don't muffle so replacing them doesn't make the car that much louder. If you find a way to make the OEM heat shields fit, they're practically invisible unless they lift the car up. If you're worried about getting done by the cops, I'd do extractors instead of the catback. Not the other way around. A giant cannon hanging out the back is noticable, as is the noise as you roll by. The other option is to find a catback that looks stock. I'm not entirely familiar with the differences, but I would assume that a factory turbo catback would flow better than the factory NA catback. If they could be made to fit, doing extractors and a FI catback (which shouldn't cost you that much) might be the best "stealth" option. Does an exhaust require an engineering certificate? Technically modifying any part of the exhaust modifies the way it breathes, which affects emissions, so technically it would need to be DECC tested.

They love "drivers", in a very narrow context. If you're some middle aged person in a family sedan and buys in to the Current Affair attitude towards modified car drivers, they're awesome. Their lobbying is geared that way, as is their insurance, as is their roadside assistance. Look at all the deals they offer as a part of membership. They're basically for old farts (who may or may not have kids) going on some road trip. I'm a NRMA Roadside Assistance member for one of my cars, and so I get their magazine. The people who write in to it are, for the most part, the kind of people who'd consider the Bob Jane All Rounder to be a good tyre.

Seriously? You went looking for an analogy, and that's what you found? The rules state that people can't advertise their own business. You know, the part about them being a "trader" and all? People talking about someone else's business that they have no commercial interest in clearly doesn't fall afoul of the rules, since they're not the actual trader. Andrew got it first go, hence why he said "I should have gotten someone else to post it up and avoided the issue". As they say, there's no such thing as bad publicity. If all this thread bumping is getting everyone else reading it and finding out about the DVD, [200] is doing JET Multimedia a favour.

I'm half-expecting the response to be, "You can't do compression tests on rotaries because they're so different. They don't compress air, they rotarise it."

When: 2004 Where: Wakefield Park With who: Some mates Any pre-setup involved: Had the car serviced, checked tyre pressures Favourite memory of the day: Feeling "free" because I could go flat out without worrying about cops, caravans or cyclists Things you learnt about your car: It needs more power and less weight Things you learnt about yourself: I wasn't as fast as I thought I was. Things you learnt about the track: It's a shitload more fun than driving fast on the street. How much fun you had: |___________________________________| this much* *not to scale

OK, lets make something very clear. Is MotiveDVD being released as a part of a commercial enterprise? I notice from its web site that its being run by a production company. Not individuals working together. Not a non-profit organisation. A company. Which is a type of business. Hence why you'd have an Australian Business Number, which lists a "trading name". As per the forum rules: Your profitability is irrelevant. The place I work for lost money in the last financial year, but that doesn't make them any less of a business. The amount of money you invested into your business for a production that happens to include the site isn't a listed exception to the rule either. The forum's other sponsors also go over and above the call of duty to help foster this community. They'll post up specials. Arrange group buys. All kinds of things that have them "add" to this community. Some also offer discounts to paid club members, which helps attract membership. I have no idea how profitable they are right now. They don't exactly publish their PnL statements, but times have been tough. However, their ability to advertise goods or services on this site still incurs a charge. You're advertising your business' product. It doesn't get any more clear cut than that. I've got nothing personal against you; I don't even know who you are. I couldn't care less about your DVD one way or another. Philosophically, as a car nut, I hope that you succeed and expand the market for automotive multimedia. I'm just pointing out that, as much as [200] is being aggressive about it, he's technically correct. It's a shame that so many other members, apparently dazzled by their (vicarous) 15 minutes of fame on a multimedia release you can find in a local bricks-and-mortar shop, are missing the lack of consistency.

I really should get around to advertising my JUN 14lb flywheel.....

Wow, a bodykitted version of a frog-shaped car that looks practically like every one prior to it for the last 80 years has the most beautiful and innovative exterior in the last 9ish years?

That is the single most retarded thing I've read in this thread. Original postion does not equal original state. If you took that definition, every time a piston hits TDC its returned to "its original state" because it happened to be in the same location it was when you first started observing it. That would quarter the currently accepted measurement of displacement for piston engines. Even if I ignore that painfully obvious state vs position disconnect, if its "not the original rotor face" present in the position you're comparing from then how can you even say its "the same position"? The definition of "original state" would be matching not only the physical positioning of the components, but also the logical positioning within the cycle. If we talk NA (to rule out the variability of compressed intake air, and we all agree even in FI applications we define displacement by measuring the air flowed by the engine sans compressor): In a "2.0L" 4 stroke piston engine, if we take our initial "original state" observation of a cylinder with its spark plug just about to ignite its air/fuel mixture then for that combustion surface to reach its "original state" again then 2.0L of air would have been injested and expelled by the whole engine. In a "2.0L" two stroke, you'd have the exact same amount of air flowing through the system when everything returns to its original state. The difference is that it would have only required half as many crankshaft rotations compared to the 4 stroke above. In a "1.3L" 13B rotary engine, if a specific rotor face is initially observed right before ignition then for that specific rotor face to return to that original state (compressed air/fuel mix inside and ready to be ignited) then 3.9L worth of air would have passed through the entire powerplant. This is something practically everyone else has already concurred with, and moved on from. I'd agree that it's not fair to compare the numbers between the different engine types due to their nature of combustion cycle. Just like I'd agree that its not fair to compare RPM of the combustion surfaces between the two types of engine, due to fundamental differences. However, when you're talking about "measurement" rather than "values for comparison" then it's pretty clear-cut, and should be consistent across the board. Measuring displacement is not an opinion open to perspective. It's a science, and its conclusions are objective. You mean in the same way that all high performance Japanese-engineered cars up until a few years ago only ever made "206kW"? Like how the Japanese engineers who went from a 206kW R33 GT-R to a car that made more torque across the entire rev-range in the R34 GT-R, yet somehow defied the basic scientific principle that power = torque x rpm, but still had its output advertised at 206kW as well? The fact that marketing parasites advertise something, that the engineers will inevitably be forced to agree with in order to toe the company line, is no proof of accuracy. If they truly believe it then they're not lying or deceiving. They're just ignorant.

That last paragraph is as accurate as it is irrelevant. We're talking about aesthetics here, not mechanics. You left out half my analogy, which is why you missed the point. My point is that its irrelevant what the car is like physically; because the badge has cachet people will put up with anything. How many of the investment bankers, lawyers, doctors and the like actually drive their Porsches the way the chassis engineers intended? I happen to adore the way the Boxster handles, but a big reason why so many people choose to get a Z4 or SLK is because they don't want to be seen in "a poor man's Porsche" (point proven above). That's despite the car being better in almost every objective measure, power aside, and most interaction-related subjective ones than the other 2 Germans. However, these prospective buyers couldn't give a toss how good it is to drive, just how good it is to be seen in. The 911 is the same. Most of the buyers still don't give a toss how it flattering the chassis is on the road, just how flattering the key is hanging out of their hands. It's just that, unlike the Boxster, the equation flips the other way. For every owner that takes their Porker out on the track, you can be damned well sure that there are a dozen whose only "sports" driving involve navigating the golf course car park. Aesthetically, not really. It looks like a regular 911, which I find ugly, with a big bodykit on it. Visually its the equivalent of WRX or Evo. I'd never own a GT3. For the cost I could buy a BMW M3 sedan for the street and have something far more practical, along with a Radical SR8 for the track which is an order of magnitude faster.

Since apparently the engine is all that's important for quarter mile times, the fastest dead stock Honda engined road legal production car would be the Ariel Atom. The current one does a 10.6s pass (I assume its the supercharged version).

Stop braking so hard, and the dust buildup will be slower. When your pads wear out, go to a low-dust alternative. Stock pads are dusty. Some aftermarket sports pads are even worse.

I don't suppose you have an aftermarket Y-pipe that's compatible with this exhaust, do you?

My girlfriend is doing mechanical engineering, and needed to find an internship for her degree at the moment. Pickings are pretty slim right now, to be honest. She's having to do it unpaid to even get that internship.

Says the guy who apparently has an R33. 19"s may look like shyte on an "R" designated Skyline, but on a V they are proportional and actually look good.

It will ruin the drive for people in sports cars, stock or modified (but especially the latter). The locals hate blow-ins clogging up their roads. One thing I've learnt about the Old Pac in Sydney, and Great Ocean Road (which would be more relevant to you) is that the locals are fully aware of how popular their road is with people who want to drive on it. Their peaceful, idyllic, homes get subjected to the constant on-rush of cars passing by. After a while, when they get fed up, they'll end up calling the cops whenever anyone with a loud car goes past. Whether you're hooning or not, you'll get classed as one if you're in an enthusiast's car. They'll complain to the council and police, who in turn then need to be seen as doing something for their ratepayers / taxpayers. So they'll go out and scare the outsiders away in their shiny cars, no matter what their behaviour. We all get tarred with the same brush. We get pulled over for "random" breath testing or the usual overbearing, but not provably illegal, discrimination tactics to make the roads unpalatable. Or, for modified cars, slap them with defect notices. If that doesn't work, its only a matter of time before "traffic calming devices" and/or speed cameras show up. All the "post your favourite driving roads" threads I've read in the past year have included links to Google Maps. Clicking on it tells you exactly how far away from your house it is, and a combination of Street View and people posting up videos on Youtube makes it as "visual" as currently possible without actually being there. The way I see it, anyone actually interested in going for a drive isn't going to care how "near" it is. I live in Sydney, and I've driven to Tasmania just to go for a drive on their amazing roads. In a more reasonable case, an enthusiast driver will drive on any good road around their home city. I live on the opposite side of Sydney to the Royal National Park, but I'll still head out that way since the coastal road down to Wollongong is brilliant. Most of the drivers I know are like that. There are plenty of people that'll live in Melbourne's east and still hit up GOR, or live in the west and still make regular forays to Marysville. There's a great blog post on the SMH web site called Paradise Lost - about all those awesome holiday getaways have now basically been ruined because everyone wants to go there, and now its overcrowded and overcommercialised, and the whole vibe that made the place attractive in the first place will be ruined. Getting your average Joe out on driving roads will do the same thing. You'll get all your idiot F&F and Initial D wannabes out there "battling for the respect" and basically ruining the laid-back atmosphere. I'm always dismayed at the amount of idiots that want to "drift race" me or my mates on one of our favourite driving roads. And I'm even more dismayed when we encounter them trying to pull their car out of an armco a bit later in the night. Explain the culture of a "legal" drive all you want on the site, if you make fun roads so easily locatable even a total retard can find them then you've got to expect that we'll have to fish said retards out of the scenery afterwards. Or the weekenders wanting to check out the great outdoors that will clog up the roads. It makes it less enjoyable for everyone. One of the aspects I like about going for a spirited drive somewhere is that I'm not stuck in traffic and go at my own pace. It's bad enough with the occasional tourist too busy looking at the landscape to look where they're actually going and driving well below the speed limit - it'd be worse if you're in a funeral procession paced group of cars and no opportunity to overtake. Sydney, unlike Melbourne, doesn't seem to entertain the idea of turn-out lanes on such roads.

Man up and get a V35 sedan, or a Cima.

That still doesn't negate the fact that the torquier engine also requires fewer RPM to achieve a given rate of acceleration (since you're trying to keep all else equal), meaning there's less combustion cycles going on while travelling. Since you're giving an inherent caveat to a smaller engine being lighter, its also an inherent caveat that car manufacturers gear bigger engined variants of their models differently. Whether those two factors offset the displacement disadvantage is still unprovable from what little criteria you're basing it on. Most big engined cars still drink more fuel than their small engined counterparts since the gearing, while taller, is still set up so that the bigger engined, more expensive, model out-accelerates the povo pack entry model car with the pissweak engine. If a manufacturer were to gear their 2.0L car and 3.0L cars to achieve the same 0-100km/hr and quarter mile times (to keep all else equal aside from displacement) their economy values would be a lot closer. That's an issue with the driver, not the engine. I thought we were comparing the technical differences of two mechanical devices? You said that we were holding "all else equal", not "all else equal except things that don't suit me". It's also "tend to", not "actually do". How many P platers do you see driving shitbox little Charades or Swifts and revving the tits off them, while retirees in Falcodores, Camrys take off like they're in a funeral procession? Even in Falcodore land, its more often P platers in their shithouse entry model cars hooning around trying to race everyone at the lights. The older blokes who can legally drive, and afford to buy, the V8s tend to have outgrown that shit.

Most of these roads have been around for longer than most people who know how to use the Internet, and most of them have been crashed on for about as long. While not all accidents get reported, generally enough do that the cops will be aware of which roads are popular for this kind of activity. I have no idea how you'd monetise this, considering almost every car-oriented forum I've been on offers the exact same service for free. I've read "post your favourite driving roads" on about a half a dozen different forums and I didn't have to pay for the privilege. On an aside, if someone can drive in an "enthusiastic" manner on most of the fun roads I've been on then either the car is old and/or crap, or the driver is. I'm not saying that a speed-limit-legal drive can't be enjoyable, but if you actually need to operate your motor vehicle "enthusiastically" rather than just taking it easy when keeping under our "lowest common denominator" limits then either you, or your car, shouldn't be allowed on public roads.