scathing

Which "fabled" close ratio 6 speed box? The 350Z already has a close ratio 6 speeder. 5th gear is 1:1, and up until the current 2007 model, with the 7500RPM redline, the car wouldn't even reach 100km/hr in 2nd.

I haven't heard anything about a 450Z for a year or two. There were a few artist's impressions on various automotive news sites one month, and then nothing. I suppose everyone is focused on the GT-R though. Personally, I don't think they'll do it in the near future. The Nismo 380RS makes 400ps out of its worked VQ38DE, and 20hp is nothing for all the extra engineering required. The V8 would give them more headroom (people have stroked those VH blocks out to 6.0L and gotten some pretty impressive NA numbers out of it) so maybe down the line.

My attitude is that while compassion should be given, respect has to be earned. This clown has done nothing to earn my respect. Spinning out into a person's house while street racing, and then bitching about police targetting afterwards, earns nothing but my derision (of which I have plenty of).

Its a picture of a really fat boat grounded on Nobby's Beach in Newcastle, next to the Pasha Bulker.

I'd spend the money telling TrackCorp to go get f**ked in as many different ways as possible. As if their $500 a head Eastern Creek days weren't overpriced enough. Its like they're just making up numbers, and then attaching a dollar sign in front. That's about, what, half a Targa Tasmania entry fee?

(Emphasis added) So, in other words, in Australia we don't actually have freedom of speech.

They are some tasty shots.

My bad. Yeah, it will. There also won't be as much space around the sides of the engine, to go with all the extra bits you need to undo and do back up.

If we had freedom of speech, then yes we'd be allowed to voice it. But, Australia has not become the 51st state of the USA and so we don't.

What invasion of privacy? I'll be honest and say that I haven't read every post in this thread, but the ones I have read have had people getting stopped in a public place and their vehicle inspected for illegal modifications. No-one was strip searched, nor did they exactly pore through the interior checking under all the carpets for dirty laundry.

Looks like what? I've seen a CES exhaust on a Silvia, and I posted a link to a photo of the CES on a GTSt, and they look like your typical twin tipped oval mufflers. Since the original requirements were for it to look subtle, I reckon it'd do a better job than a cannon. It would pass for stock from people who didn't know much about cars, especially if you got the thing dirty.

The problem is that sometimes it can also work against the stock ECU. That's why a standalone ECU is preferable from a tuner's standpoint, as it makes more consistent power. That said, if you're sticking to a light tune, street-only, setup I don't have issues with piggybacks. You can retain all the cool OEM functionality that the aftermarket ECUs don't have, and if you're just doing bolt-ons the differences in outright power will be minimal.

Bwhahahahah I guess he got stuck with a 10 minute set of wheels.

That makes them far narrower than the 350Z. I can fit a 10.5" +22 with 275 width tyres on the back without rolling the guards. Any chance of digging up a similar chart for the V35 coupes?

Where did you get access to a wind tunnel?

Then I wasn't referring to you specifically. I was using "you" as a general term to refer to people that aren't me. I use toll roads sparingly, and to be honest I don't know exactly how much my entire trip costs. But, by the same token, if I'm on a toll road its because I'm in such a hurry that I don't care how much it costs. But I'm aware that I am paying something. I do think about it, and make a conscious choice to lighten my virtual wallet by taking a certain route. I've still got an e-tag, and it hasn't given me some kind of financial lobotomy. If people don't think about it (as per your original assertion) then they've got no-one to blame but themselves. I've just had jack of people who blame their insurmountable credit card debts on credit card companies. No-one put a gun to their head to just impulse buy everything because they have the instantaneous means, just like no-one makes (general case) you use a toll road. The fate of the Cross City Tunnel should be proof enough of that.

That engine bay is a lot longer than the Z32's, and from the photos I've seen of the engine bay (damn it, pics are offline) its not quite as cramped as the Z. The Z33 / V35 has room for twin turbos in an engine bay that was never designed for it, and I know of quite a few daily driven FI 350Zs that haven't had heat issues on the street, and only required an oil cooler for the track. The GT-R engine bay looks at least as big, assuming it is the same engine.

Why is a V6 harder to tune than an I6? Aside from the fact that its awkward to go for a big single turbo conversion?

When the law was introduced to restrict NSW P platers from driving "high performance" cars, a part of the law was that they cannot drive a car with "engine performance modifications". So I always find it laugable that P platers buy an NA car because they don't want to get busted, but then put exhausts on them. You're still breaching your license restrictions, and its just as obvious. It also means, by the letter of the law, if you drive a dead stock car rated for regular unleaded petrol and you put premium in there....you just modified your engine output, and you just broke the law. Or if you bought an old car and the OEM exhaust rusted through, so you popped an aftermarket exhaust that's so quiet is more restrictive than stock, technically you just "modified" the engine output too. Nice, well-thought out, piece of legislation, huh?

The V35, to my knowledge, has the same sized wheel wells as the 350Z....which will make them much deeper than a non-GTR R-Series Skyline. 350Z-Tech's V35 / Z33 Compatibility List The V35 is a longer car, so the exhaust is not the same. Everything up to the cats is the same though. Engine and gearbox should be near identical, although apparently the intake tube on the 350Z is a bit more free flowing. Suspension is identical. Brakes are identical.

Who would ever think Honda would release a turbocharged car that's not a Kei?

I've also heard good things about CES Racing exhausts in terms of performance (for Silvias at least). And they're Australian. They have the option for oval or cannon rear mufflers as well (their site has a picture of their oval muffler). Noise-wise they're apparently quite loud (for Silvias, anyway) but they're also meant to be noise legal. You might want to confirm this with them, though. I've got a Hitech muffler on my 350Z and I love it. Its quiet up until I get to the upper part of the rev range, but even at full noise its not deafening. I've heard the Hitech S15 exhaust and its a bit louder, but not unbearably so...and it was on a car that would be the limits of what you'd call "light tune". Both of them flow very well for the application.

Find yourself an exhaust that has at least one midpipe muffler (not just a resonator) as well as a rear muffler. Since most people want stupidly loud exhausts, a lot of aftermarket exhausts I see people using only have rear mufflers and maybe a resonator in the middle. A resonator technically only smooths out the exhaust noise at a certain part of the rev range (which is why its called a resonator and not a muffler). I'm a big fan of the Fujitsubo Legalis R range of exhausts. They're generally OEM quality (from what I've heard they make a lot of exhausts for OEM, I know Nismo used a Fuji on their S-Tune 350Z for a while) and they're not deafening loud. As you can see from this shop, they come in an oval rear tank for a more OEM-style look. Not sure what the R34 applications are like in terms of soundare, though. I've heard Legalis R exhausts on 350Zs and Integras, and they give off a nice note while still being practically OEM quiet in the bottom half of the rev range, but when you get up in the revs the sound gets a lot more aggressive in terms of note and volume.

Fulcrum Suspension are the official Tein distributors in Australia, and these days they're revalving Teins for Australian conditions. Unfortunately www.tein.com.au is down right now, but check it later for contact details.

Any restrictions at all? Are you prepping it just for random track days / supersprints, or do you want to race in specific classes of racing (that may have modification rules)? Rule the GTT out. If money is no object, you should only be considering GT-Rs anyway. Structural rigidity is nice, but its a lot easier and more reliable to start off with an AWD drivetrain than trying to make one fit....and AWD is going to be important when you sink a king's ransom into the engine. Its a lot easier, with fewer reliability problems, to seam weld and brace a chassis than trying to make an AWD system go in. I'd probably take the R32. With no budget and no class restrictions you can do anything you want (just use a tube frame and keep the silhouette after you've replaced the entire body with CF), and the R32 is a sexier beast. The R34 GT-R's ATTESSA system is meant to be the best of the lot, being the last of the breed. How come in your unlimited budget question its not an option?