pixel8r

Well I've now connected my previous earthing attempt up with the intake and also across to the factory earth on the opposite side of the engine, for what its worth. This time it does seem to have made a difference. The results are very unscientific, and very much based on "seat of the pants" impressions, but in the last few days I've done >550km and have experienced NO annoying moments like I used to get all the time, especially when driving to work and back. The gearbox is still slower to shift than I'd like, but now it behaves like a normal auto, so its definitely an improvement. No crazy long delay when I put my foot down now. It doesn't make the car feel faster or anything like that, but I'd have to say it makes the car very consistent in how it drives. No more off days or sluggish drives. It now feels responsive and quick all the time. (well, as quick as any factory M35 - its still relatively quick compared to other wagons) If I'd paid $200 for this mod I'd feel very ripped off, but since it only cost me $10 or so, I'm pretty happy with it

Are you not aware that all hoons are young P-plate drivers in riced-up imports?

probably depends on a lot of factors. Obviously on a wet/slippery surface, the g-force sensors aren't going to help a whole lot. These are more for when you're pushing the limits on a surface where you otherwise would have grip. The system is the same as the GTR (R33/34) more or less, but the ATTESA computer and variables are likely to be tweaked for each application. All of that said, it is possible to get the back to step out in most stageas if you attack a tight corner with your foot on the accelerator, but you will feel the front wheels trying to bring that under control as you do so.

kind of. Attesa uses g-force sensors (both longitudinal and latitudinal) as well as the ABS sensors, throttle position and probably a bunch of other inputs to determine which wheels are likely to have the most traction. As you know, it reads all of these inputs 100x a second via its 16-bit processor. The way attesa works is that if it detects (or ANTICIPATES - here's the difference from the volvo one) traction loss on any wheel, it directs torque away from that wheel. Often it doesn't wait for the wheel to slip, because the g-force sensors will already be telling it that traction loss will or may occur. I'd say the volvo one is very similar but there was no mention of g-force sensors or the like.

hmmm last night i put in a grounding cable between the factory ground on the right hand side of the engine and the negative terminal on the battery. Haven't really noticed any real difference yet though. I was expecting some improvement just based on the fact the original cable connecting to the negative terminal on the battery just connects straight to the chassis. Normally you'd have a factory one going direct to the engine but mine didn't, which means its grounding through the chassis only. Now with this new cable in place, performance seems strong and all, but then it was before as well (although its a bit off and on). Maybe just not so intermittent now? Is that how it works? I know a little about electronics, but I'm not familiar with how this whole grounding thing affects so many other components. Is it just the sensors getting/giving a clearer reading? I may look at grounding some extra stuff like the TB soon, and see how that goes. Is the engine-battery earth enough to improve the transmission or do I need to actually connect an earth wire to the transmission itself? Presumably it already has a good earth there? I think the problem the M35 suffers is mainly just the fact it uses the chassis as the connection to the negative battery terminal, rather than a direct cable.

408hp!! nice 6 speed auto too, and an AWD system that sounds similar to ATTESA except that it waits for wheel slippage before it intervenes... cant say i'm a fan of the looks though. still undeniably a volvo...but then i'm not much interested in 4wd's/offroad cars so maybe i'm biased.

How does this affect low-end performance? Some people have mentioned that the powerduct actually loses a little low-end performance (but has gains at the top end). I'm a little hesitant to experiment with opening that panel on the airbox for this reason. Interested to know what results you have now with this method...I would've thought more air would mean more response all the way through but feedback from people who have installed the powerduct seem to indicate otherwise. Is it any different with opening the main intake more?

The M35 wheel bearings are a complete (sealed?) unit so you have to buy them from Nissan Japan. Most Aust Nissan Dealers will organise it for you. Its not cheap though, I was quoted something like $280 a side just for parts. labour would've been on top of that. Normally people recommend doing both at once, just on the assumption that if one is going, the other cant be far off... My M35 has now done 98000km and mine are still good - they didn't actually need replacing in the end. I suspected they were faulty several months back but after some diagnosis it turned out to be just really noisy tires. Are you sure its bearings? I was told by a mechanic that the way to tell if its a bearing is to try putting more load on it (ie. turn away from that wheel - obviously when going slow). A bearing thats on its way out will get noisier when its loaded up, so it should get noisier when more weight is applied to that corner. When I was checking mine out, the noise was pretty constant and even got quieter as I got over 80-100km/h (although still audible). It didn't get louder when cornering at low speeds. This is what made me suspect that the noise was something else. After trying different wheels on the car it became evident the noise was in fact just tires.

Too general a question to answer fairly. The M35 runs higher boost so more likely to blow a turbo (since the turbo uses the same or similar materials and seems to carry the same limitations). Some people claim their M35 runs as high as 15psi without modifications...something weird going on there. Other than that the VQ engine is probably a better designed engine than the RB (I really dont know but its won more awards for what its worth). As for reliability, based on personal experience, having owned a C34 s2 for 2 years and now a M35 for nearly 1 year: * The C34 had wrecked rear suspension when I bought it (fixed under dealer stat warranty), and the turbo died on it, plus cracked exhaust manifold. As yet I've not heard of M35's having the cracked exhaust manifold problem - that seems to be a RB thing. * After nearly 1 year the M35 has no mechanical problems at all. It did have a dirty throttle body but any turbo car would be the same. Once cleaned it ran beautifully. They also fixed the passenger mirror rust spot on the M35, pretty much every C34 has that one. We're splitting hairs here though. Everyone's experiences are different which makes it very difficult to compare reliability. The M35 seems to have issues with the turbo & boost, and the C34 has issues with the exhaust manifold cracking, and the turbo isn't exactly its strong point either. As for the BAD bits: C34 (s2): Auto takes too long to shift gears (makes tiptronic useless). Shift kit made it PERFECT though. Should've had more power out of the factory, and 17" wheels. M35: Auto takes far too long to shift gears...it masks the power delivery potential of the awesome VQ25DET. Wife wont let me buy shift kit (yeah I know thats not the stagea's fault)...

Both of these will be a bit laggy, with boost starting around 2500rpm and max boost around 4000rpm. To get the most from either, you will need to spend a lot more than the $2-3K they will set you back...making it a very costly exercise. There's only so much you can do to increase spool times (ignition timing and exhaust and tuning, tuning, and more tuning play a big part). On the plus side, your fuel economy will be great since you'll be off-boost pretty much all of the time while driving around, and once on boost it will come on very strong and pull hard right to the redline (4000-6500rpm?). I do strongly feel that the GT35 is far too big for this size engine, and personally I think the GT30 is too, but that comes down to how much money you're prepared to throw at it and what you can tolerate. I know because I've been there with my last stagea (GT30). At the very least you need a decent fuel supply (not sure what the M35 stock fuel pump/injectors can handle), a good aftermarket ecu (it must be able to tune ignition timing, and do it well - this will help with spool-up times by optimising rev build-up and also torque at low revs), free-flowing exhaust, possibly aftermarket AFM, and probably more that I'm not aware of because I never got that far. It just seemed that every little thing I modified then required another 3 things to make it work better...so I gave up and sold it. Think about whether you can tolerate cruising in traffic (revs around 1500-2000rpm for me), and having basically a "dead spot" in the rev range every time you want boost. between say 1800 and 2500rpm its going to feel like you've changed from 2nd straight to 4th or something. Then when it hits boost it wont be the smooth transition you got when the car was stock, it'll be much more urgent. "sudden" isn't really the right word but you get the idea. I found it really frustrating to drive, because boost was just never available 80% of the time, and then when it did hit boost it was a bit much. It was good, and I did like the push back in the seat feeling but it really only made sense on a drag strip. When just cruising around it just annoyed me. I believe you can overcome some of the above issues but it will involve parting with a lot of cash over time and thats where I'd recommend the cheaper option of a GT28 highflow. A GT28 should be enough to take you well over 200awkw, and it'll be more responsive at low revs, so it comes down to how much power you really want/need. Sorry for the long post - I've said my bit now, and hopefully its helpful. I'll hop back in my shell now

yup i agree. I owned 2 s13's, one of them turbo. Very quick car (the turbo)....but a little slippery in the wet.

Haha, maybe they'll offer me a job? I'm just comparing the exhausts I've had on my cars (basically a 3" piece of SS pipe, mandrel bent to fit in around the diff etc) sound with the youtube clips and manufacturer videos for JDM exhausts. The ones I've had always sounded a bit unrefined or droney, nothing like the sound of a kakimoto or fujitsubo exhaust. Plus that Takero "Full Titan" one is the best I've heard. ever. Performance wise you probably cant really go wrong with a 3" pipe, but I'd like to think the JDM ones are geared at maximum performance too.

I believe 4wd is an option, and from my (limited) reading, not a very common one? At least with the latest ones from the Nissan Hong Kong website, it specifically says front engine, RWD. VQ30 is V6. interestingly if they had a VQ30DD it would have more power than the VQ35DE. In my opinion the VQ35DE is the weakest part about it. They use the severely detuned 170kw version, not the 220+kw version that the 350z had (might be thinking of the VQ35HR but either way the VQ35DE is capable of 206kw & 360N-m).

I know you were talking generally, but drivetrain loss in a stagea is more like ~85kw. Based on s2 having supposedly 206kw and ~120awkw. Somehow the M35 250t with a very similar drivetrain still has 206kw but manages 135+ awkw. go figure. Most other cars seem to have around 50-60kw drivetrain loss, so that makes sense. If you remove the front tailshaft in the stagea, the difference on a dyno is ~20kw compared to awd so that tells me that the awd "costs" about 20kw. However, the extra traction more than makes up for this on the road. Those who have been to the drags and tried a run with awd and then rwd (but in a awd stagea - so same weight) claim that the awd is quicker, despite the extra drivetrain losses. For what its worth, factory rwd is a different story since we're then talking about a ~200kg weight difference.

Twin sunroofs appear to be more common on japanese cars - must be a bit of a craze over there. I think from memory the legnum and legacy both have this option (actually one of them just has one big sunroof, cant remember which). both of these are competition for the stagea. Mirrors folding in is cool - most jap nissans have had this since ~1989 (silvia, 180/200sx, skyline, stagea etc). noisy front shocks is a stagea thing, all stageas do it. self-closing boot is standard on m35 Love the fact the s1& s2 have no door frame - looks awesome with doors open and windows down. no one has mentioned the removable mat in the boot of the s1 & s2 - its missing in some stageas but it is standard factory equipment...just some came over here with it missing. When you lift the boot floor up, just underneath there normally is a mat that you can remove and wipe your feet on etc. not sure what other use it has, maybe so you have something to lie on while changing the oil? cig lighter in the boot (also s1 & s2 only).

?? is yours RWD? I thought the RWD stageas did have TCS. The AWD ones will step the back out round a corner in the wet/dry if you plant it but in a straight line good luck getting any wheelspin, wet or dry. how about "so many different configurations/options" on the list. is that a feature?

Auto-closing boot. Not sure if its the coolest but its worth having in the poll. note that the rear windows in the M35 dont fall down like the C34 does. they stay level and only open half way. I prefer the C34 way, just gets attention from people

Since reading this thread I've seen at least 3 elgrands driving around in Brisbane. Then I made the mistake of showing the mrs......now she wants 6 kids (so that we can buy an elgrand...i told her just 4 would be enough to outgrow the stagea...but even so...we've only just had our first) She still reckons the M35 is ugly but she thinks the elgrand looks great....?! I dont mind the look of the elgrand, but the stagea is here to stay. Unless they make the elgrand awd & turbo or otherwise fit a VQ37HR into it...

I've had 3 exhausts put on 3 separate cars, all of them locally custom-made for the car (mandrel bends etc). The workmanship was fantastic, but if I were to do it again I'd be looking at an off-the-shelf one from japan - one that has been designed for the stagea. The reason is that local exhaust places are great at welding and bending a nice 3" piece of pipe. And to quieten it down they know how to put some mufflers or resonators (=drone in a wagon) in. Dont get me wrong, they do a fantastic job for a lot of cars, but with a wagon, noise / acoustics play a huge part. The jap ones that are designed specifically for the stagea are actually engineered to produce a nice sound, sometimes a quiet sound. A lot of testing goes into it and what you're buying is not just a pipe, its a piece of performance and sound engineering, blended into one. Also when you buy one of these, the manufacturer can show you exactly what the car will sound like, and exactly the performance gains to expect when installing on a stock stagea. And they dont just make it quiet. They focus on making it quiet across specific rev ranges so that you can still hear the exhaust when you belt it but not when cruising. A lot of them also have twin pipes out the rear muffler - which produces the same airflow but with less noise. There really is no comparison between the way they sound. Even the jap ones sound different to each other. Have a search on youtube for "VQ25DET engine" or something like that. There's a clip on there that just shows the exhaust tip on a white M35 and it just sounds awesome! One last thing, if you get an exhaust, you might want to also check out an aftermarket ecu. Thats my view anyway.

Keema Nissan tried their software (not sure if they have the latest CONSULT) on mine and said it wouldn't talk to it. I believe CONSULT-II should work, not sure about OBD-II though. If you have fixed the problem that caused the engine light to come on, its easy to make it disappear. However if its due to the emanage or something that is still there, the engine light will come straight back - even if Nissan/OBD can clear it. To erase the fault codes, just do what it says in this thread (I know, cos i posted it): http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/Ec...-W-t261557.html I've tried it just the other day. Was adjusting my headlights and had the airbox out, then put everything back in and went for a drive around the block without the AFM electrical connector in...oops. It still ran fine, I had no idea there was a problem except for the engine light on the dash. I did the above and it cleared it. I love the on-board diagnostics of this car. Every car manufacturer should take note. Btw most VQ engines have the same on-board diagnostics. So grab a copy of the V35 manual online and look up all the stuff you can do. You can check codes from the engine and the transmission, re-learn idle, reset tps, reset pedal position, and a few other things. It may take a few goes to get it right, but once you understand how it works, its pretty easy. Just make sure your door is shut and a/c off etc.

As chad_bob mentioned, Blender would be a good choice. Its got many professional features and its free. However it does have quite a steep learning curve, although its not that difficult to work through the tutorials. I've had a play with it before, since I'm into games programming a bit, but haven't touched it for a while now. Its more oriented towards 3d modelling for digital media (movies/games etc) rather than CAD though. If you want a demo of its capabilities, do a google search for "Yo! Frankie" (open source game) or otherwise "Elephants Dream" (open source movie).

Hey the cube is cool. dont knock the cube. Nothing beats the Pivo2 though... (not exactly boxy though, so yes it is beside the point).

Its very likely an exhaust can tip your boost up to 15psi. As mentioned before, stock on most M35's is about 11psi, but on this forum many have varied results, usually between 10 and 14psi. Its generally recommended not to go over 14psi on a ceramic turbo (which the M35 has) since it will shatter, leaving bits of ceramic in your catalytic converter...not pretty. Apparently they cause quite a bit of damage when they go. As for power output, the general feeling I get from stock kw at the wheels compared to older stageas is that the M35 actually came out of the factory with around 220kw at the flywheel. Stock is around 135awkw say. If you have 191kw (is that rear only or all wheels?) this is actually a big increase. An exhaust will usually only give you about 20kw extra on a turbo car, more if you have an aftermarket or remapped ecu and a good tune. Generally the difference between flywheel kw and at the wheels is due to drivetrain losses (gearbox, diffs etc) and these losses generally do not increase (much?) as you increase power, so realistically if your car has 60kw more at the wheels, its close to 60kw more at the flywheel too. That'd be something like 280kw at the flywheel, remembering that this is all just pure guesswork. The v8 will have much more torque right through the revs so I'd expect it to still win. However, from past experience it seems that Ford & Holden both suffer from huge drivetrain losses or lack of grip - since the kw figures never seem to be able to translate into 0-100 times or 1/4 mile times etc. The M35 also tends to bog down a bit on take off, more so than older stageas, and can be harder to launch off the line effectively. You may find that building the revs up as high as you can with the brake on may give you better results, since you'll be on boost right from the start. From here, at the very least, look into some form of tuning, maybe a highflow turbo (more power plus allows you to run more boost), boost controller...then see how you go. If its AWD, remember you have a huge advantage over the xr8 on anything except a dry road.

Try replacing the fuses with known working fuses just to confirm they are not duds (if you haven't tried this already). I had this issue on my s2. Couldn't see that the fuse was faulty but I replaced it and that fixed the problem.

C34 (series 1 & 2) - tank is 68L (around 58L when the light comes on). average is 400km to a tank for s1, maybe less? 450km to a tank for s2. 10.7L/100km on the highway, avg around 13-14L/100km in the city. M35 - tank is 78L. (light comes on around 60-65L) average 450-500km to a tank. 9.5L/100km on the highway, 12-14L/100km in the city. You can improve the economy with an aftermarket piggyback ecu, I was getting 11-12L/100km in adelaide with my old s2. Thats with a 3" exhaust, larger turbo (more time off boost), and apexi safc. It had 160awkw at the time. Also remember they need premium fuel. So they are not the cheapest wagon to run around in. Insurance is also more expensive than aussie cars. However most of us agree the luxury and performance/handling aspects generally outweigh the cost.