pixel8r

Hi all, Just posting the link here for anyone who may be interested... http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/19...ro-t208055.html Recently moved to Brisbane, so car still has SA rego. Have some moving costs etc that I need to recoup and hoping to recover what I still owe on the car. Its been a tough decision but its time to sell what has been a fantastic and enjoyable car to own and drive. This forum has been great and I'll say a formal "goodbye" now but I'll probably stick around for a while yet at least until the car is sold. cheers, steve EDIT: thanks to whoever edited my post - now that i've deleted it the following post wont make sense...

...car is now sold...

great photos!! looks like it was a fun day... unfortunately i wasn't able to make it. maybe next time

It depends what you want and how much you want to pay. Technically speaking, the R32 is a better car in just about every way, better built etc. However its also heavier and more expensive (than a silvia). 180's tend to be overpriced considering the only thing that makes them different to the silvia (s13 anyway) is the shape and dash (i think 180's have a digital speedo in some cases). Later model 180's tend to line up with the silvia of the equivalent year mechanically speaking...more or less. I'd prefer the R32 purely for the better build and IMO it looks more mature. I've always believed the s13-s14's (silvia/180sx/200sx) cater to a younger audience than the skylines. Let me just clarify this is just how I see it. Feel free to disagree I've owned a s13 silvia (both n/a and turbo models) and they are a fun car to drive, but a switch to a skyline would've definitely felt like a step up. I moved from the silvia turbo to a stagea so I cant really comment on the skyline part so much...but the stagea is closely related to the skyline family mechanically. Interested to see what others think on this topic however...

I reckon them VE wagons dont look too bad... Something about them reminds me very much of Audi wagons...which isn't a bad thing since I like those too

I really cant believe no one has mentioned this yet, but I'm willing to bet you have nothing wrong with your auto box. The default behaviour of the Stagea auto (not sure if its the same for s1) is to not engage 4th gear until you either go over 80km/h or until its warmed up enough. So when cold it will not engage 4th at all, until it warms up - often about 2-5 mins into the drive... It wont let you force 4th gear in any way other than going over about 70-80km/h...and in that case the auto will warm up fairly quick anyway... I only noticed this when I got an exhaust fitted - because this made it way more noticeable. I could tell something was different before but hadn't put it down to which gear it was in. you will also notice the car is not very responsive until the engine is warm anyway, which can take longer than the gearbox to warm up. I usually keep an eye on the temp guage and just go easy on the throttle until the needle is horizontal. You'll notice the car suddenly ease up and drive more smoothly once it warms up. It runs fairly rich when cold so probably switches to another fuel map once its warm or something like that. We probably should have a page of info full of little stagea quirks like this one. I only found this out because it was in the little book I got with the car from the dealer. If it wont do 4th even when its well and truly warmed up, then maybe you have a fault? in that case, take it to a qualified auto transmission specialist who can open it up and fix it. Hopefully its all fine though...

I'll add to this... ...if you're not happy with the extra noise the clutch fan makes, turn your stereo on/up. Probably true of the ratiator but I believe the std SMIC (s2 at least) will cope just fine until you start running more boost... But yes the difference between your stagea's performance on a cold (<15deg) night and a boiling (>35deg) hot day is HUGE!

or you could keep the stock intercooler (good for up to 200rwkw apparently) - and get a water spray kit (extra washer bottle) to take it further...

whilst i mostly agree with you here, I think people underestimate car electrics a lot. If electronics was so unreliable, your car would break down every other week. Just about everything you touch when driving a car is linked to some electronic component somewhere these days, and yet most of these will outlast the car. Obviously a belt-driven fan is less likely to fail (in theory), but that doesn't mean thermos are any less reliable. Plenty of cars have them. Just a matter of making sure you do the homework and choose the correct setup.

The earlier RB25DET (R33) has VCT, more like on-off or something whereas the NEO has fully variable valve timing - something like that. I dont fully understand it all, but in practice it translates to much better low-mid range torque.

Just make sure it does its job because from memory I think I read on here there is a reason why skylines have a crank-driven fan. Its not like nissan dont know how to do thermo fans, there are earlier nissans with thermo fans. Pretty sure they will work, but I think you need to be careful with the thermostat setup to make sure it comes on earlier than with some other cars... Its worth noting that even with the fan going non-stop, the stageas and skylines dont run cold... Disclaimer - I'm only going from memory of some stuff i read on other threads on here about thermo fans...so dont take this as gospel

Hi Paramour, Allow me to offer a S2 stagea perspective, and hopefully you will find this helpful as I think there are similarities with what you are experiencing. First things first... 1. You can do a few things to improve spool up times. The most noticeable difference will come from a 3" turbo-back exhaust (incl high-flow cat) - only make sure you get 2 mufflers, 1 centre, 1 rear (ie. NOT a muffler+resonator setup) to reduce drone as this is a problem with wagons. Make sure your wife is ok with this BEFORE doing it because it WILL be louder than stock, both inside and outside the car. Its definitely bearable and hardly noticeable when cruising at 60km/h but at certain revs it can get a little louder... Further to this you can advance your timing a little on a dyno (provided its safe to do so) - if its stock you wont be able to change much though... You can also get a piggyback ecu that can do ignition timing and use this to tune the ignition timing at various rpm points which will make it spool quicker. Further, you can buy a cheap manual boost controller (turbotech ONLY - do not trust other brands of manual boost controller) from ebay (search for turbotech boost controller) and these will make sure the wastegate stays fully closed as it builds boost, unlike stock where the wastegate may start to creap open as you approach max boost. These controllers do work well for anything under about 14-16psi. I dont have any experience with mine over 12psi so cant really comment other than to say that mine works perfectly - holds boost very solid and doesn't spike. These controllers are not a bleed valve so dont have the spiking risks of those. 2. Raising the boost level is only raising the MAX boost level - so it wont make it spool up any quicker, it just means when it does spool up, it will go a bit further. Remember that boost is actually air PRESSURE and doesn't always increase air FLOW if the system is near its limits. For example - If you have a restrictive exhaust/intake then raising the boost past say 10psi may not make much difference at all, other than putting a lot more pressure on your turbo... The stock setup should benefit from 10psi of boost and if you upgrade the exhaust this will normally cause your boost to increase as well, by about 2psi or so. Its a good idea to get a boost guage to measure it if the car doesn't come with one... If the stock turbo is ceramic like the S1's and S2's then you wont want to boost past 10-11psi since the ceramic wheel can shatter at around 14psi. not pretty. High-flow and larger turbos will often flow more air at the same boost pressure (depending on the boost setting and efficiency ranges) so bear this in mind if you want to upgrade the turbo. This will require some form of ecu tuning however....which I'd recommend in any case. Most electronics like this you can have fully installed and tuned for under about $600-800...depending on which piggyback ecu and tuning workshop you choose. 3. When I bought my S2, I wasn't happy with the time it took to change gears, especially when using tiptronic. Was like 2s from 1st to 2nd sometimes, which is waaay too long for me. I found that the gear changes weren't snappy enough to make the tiptronic worthwhile...so I never used it and just drove round in Drive. 4. YES. My first mod was a "shift kit" - otherwise known as a "valve body upgrade" for your auto transmission. Not sure if these are available for the M35 auto, but if you take it to a reputable auto trans specialist - preferably one who has good experience with high performance autos, they should be able to help out. The shifts will feel a little bit harsher, but mostly unnoticeable when cruising around. Its only when you're driving hard that you notice the snappier shifts - it will shift from 1st to 2nd pretty much instant now. Using tiptronic there is a small delay where the ecu works out what gear you want, and then its instantly in the gear. Its a bit clunky but like the exhaust, its definitely bearable and my wife has never complained about it. 5. just all of the above... To give it more go, try the 3" exhaust, boost controller & raise boost to 10psi (not sure what the stock turbo can do on those), and get some form of piggyback ecu (speak to a good workshop about recommendations - many of us use the apexi SAFC for air/fuel tuning and the SITC for ignition timing but these are fairly simple devices. great for if you just want an extra 30-50kw but any more than that and you'd be better off looking for a more capable ecu). To improve shift quality and speed, look for a "shift kit" for your auto trans. I'm not sure if these are available for the M35 but you can always speak to some professionals and I'm sure they could provide you with the info you're after. Hopefully this info has been helpful to you As for justifying all of this to the wife...I wish you luck (speaking from experience. I tend to bargain with my wife, ie. she gets clothes, I get car mods) Oh and my S2 with 160awkw definitely has the throw back in the seat feeling. It will never be as much as with a lighter car and often doesn't feel like you're doing the speed you're doing, but lets say when I bought mine it didn't feel like it had a turbo, and now its very obvious. Love the sound too!!

Isn't stock boost set to about 5psi? Whatever the wastegate actuator thingy is set to, you cant go lower than that...and stock boost is 5psi up until 4500rpm where it bleeds off some pressure to achieve ~7.5psi. So it must be getting *something* just not working how it should. I have a manual boost controller and I'm pretty sure it is ONLY plugged into the actuator and the top of the turbo, nothing else. The line from the IC pipe is plugged as far as I know. However this is a completely different type of controller and may have different setup requirements... Maybe if people can post pics of their EBC setup?

Before trying any expensive polish, try getting a rag/cloth and rubbing toothpaste onto the headlights. Its not perfect but I've found it does give quite good results. Just make sure not to get any on the paint!! This goes for any cut and polish as well. Normal polish is ok on paint but cut and polish will normally wreck your metallic/pearl paint. Pretty sure all skylines have this problem with faded headlights. Stageas are the same too.

Just noticed the M35 doesn't have a strut brace. Although it does have sections on either side joining the strut towers to the firewall if that makes sense... However as far as handling goes, I do know that the M35 has the front midship configuration meaning that the engine is placed back behind the front wheels to improve weight balance - so maybe this outweighs the lack of a strut brace. Also there may not be enough room for one under the bonnet?

duh. I was saying that even with 153kw it was very easy to spin the rear wheels, so considering the blacktop SR20 has 184kw (JDM only, otherwise its only 147kw for the aus one) it would make the situation worse, not better. I'd guess the S15 is heavier all-round so it would probably have improved a bit but all I was saying is that sometimes lighter is not necessarily better. You need a certain amount of weight in the car (both front and rear) to give adequate control at high speed. I was comparing the S15 to a GTT (neo) since these are in the same price point. Comparing to a 33gtst is not as easy because price would then also come into the equation...because if you spent the same money on a 33 as what it would cost to buy a stock S15, the 33 would own it in almost every way. Also, for the record, there isn't actually that much difference between the red and black top SR20's. The later blacktop has vvt. and a few more kw and a tiny wee bit more torque, but its in a heavier car. The early blacktop SR20's had almost no advantage over the redtop as far as performance is concerned. So my experience with the S13 ought to at least count for something here...Other than the exterior shape, i'm guessing the design of the "silvia" didn't change much from S13 to S15.

personally if my tuner couldn't work out how to tune with a SAFC I'd go somewhere else and NEVER go back there. They have to be the simplest ECU to tune. All they do is airflow, and they modify the airflow signal at set rpm points. i believe you can preset these rpm points first and then go through and set the level of adjustment for each point. mine start with 0 for all the way up to ~3000rpm and then at 3000rpm its like -2 or so and then all the way up to about -20 at 5000rpm. All that means is its reading less air so will supply less fuel. Looking at the Air/Fuel ratio graph from a dyno printout - any point on the graph that you want to lean out, just put a -ve number in the SAFC at that rpm. The larger the number, the more lean it will run. If you want to richen it up, then just add a bit to that bar at that rpm on the SAFC. Keep doing this using the dyno readout until you eventually end up with the graph being pretty straight on 12:1 (or 11.5:1 for a bit safer tune) at the top end. Normally it starts lean (normal for lower revs) and gets richer and richer at the top end, so you just need to lean it out a little at the top end to get a straight line instead... But yeah, I'm no mechanic and I've worked it out so just a word of caution before taking it to a supposed "tuner" who cant figure it out... EDIT: I should add that SAFC's are not a fantastic tuning tool, but they do work and can work well if you only want 30-40 extra kw or so...

Not only that, I believe the rears will fit but will have the wrong damping rates etc...since the stagea rears are different due to the heavier boot...

Does the GReddy E-manage support this? and if so, does that include both the "blue" and ultimate versions?

same story here - 1999 stagea with 28000kms almost 2 years ago (digital odo). The interior on mine was spotless - couldn't fault it. No wear marks on seats or steering wheel. Yet I've owned it for almost 2 years and the steering wheel now has a LOT of wear marks... Would they go to the bother of replacing the steering wheel or seats? But all the same, regardless of the km's, sometimes sitting in a car dealer's for 7+ years can do just as much "damage" as if it had 120,000km on it. I've had to replace the rear shockies when I bought it, and the fronts aren't much better now. Other than that its mostly been trouble-free but could well have been sitting around for years before I bought it. So remember low km's isn't always a good thing.

so all you care about is power and weight...? I've driven a S13 silvia and even with just 153kw at the flywheel (later with more due to exhaust, ~20kw increase) it was very hard to control under boost due to the lack of weight at the rear. Just the fact that they are RWD and there is no weight above the rear wheels, makes them great for drifting but not great for overall control. I now have a (MUCH heavier) stagea and with almost the same power-weight ratio, I can overtake cars on the highway in the stagea with just one hand on the wheel, whereas it took two hands and careful steering to do the same in the silvia. Cant say if this is the same with the S15 or not. I found the silvia "drifted" side to side a lot more at high speed than the stagea does. Not saying they're "bad" or anything, just that a skyline (lets say R34 since this is more the same price point and same year) would feel a lot more "planted". Still has a lot to do with personal preference IMO. For me, the power vs weight is only one factor out of a whole range of factors from driveability, passenger space, luggage space, features, and looks (but not in that order).

It depends what you call "overriding" the cut out limits... They wont bypass the 180km/h speed limiter, and one would question why you would want to..? As far as fuel cut (R&R, but lets call it fuel cut here since thats what it does), the way the piggybacks work is by modifying the signal (voltage) from the AFM to the ECU. The ECU cuts fuel based on the amount of airflow. And it only knows about the stock AFM, so lets assume the max voltage is 5V for the stock AFM (not sure what it is actually). When the voltage returned reaches 5V, the ECU knows the AFM is near its limits (or near the limit set by nissan) and will cut fuel to protect your engine from detonation - because it thinks it wont be able to supply enough fuel to match... A very simplistic description of how piggybacks work is that they can reduce the signal that the AFM sends to the ECU, so the ECU sees less airflow, and provides less fuel. This means you can go closer to the physical limits of the AFM and yet the ECU will still think its within range and therefore no fuel cut. Eventually it will start to run too lean, so here's where you need a better fuel pump and increase the fuel pressure via fuel pressure regulators or bigger injectors etc. This would allow you to reduce the AFM voltage signal further, and still supply the same amount of fuel - if that makes sense. Sorry if this sounded confusing...but thats the simple description of the basics of tuning. Just balancing the Air/Fuel ratios by turning down the AFM signal and turning up the fuel pressure to match. There are other side-effects to handle as well, since with the SAFC, reducing the AFM signal also advances the timing a little, so there are other things to think about. The SITC piggyback can help with this too, and the SAFC/SITC combo can work well, but these have limits as well, since they will only "bend" the signals so far. The E-Manage on the other hand will do all of this and more, including actual fuel maps, rather than just a simplistic AFM modifier for different RPM points. Plus it does ignition timing, and drives the injectors as well... I dont have any hands-on knowledge of the E-manage however so I really cant comment further on that...but suffice to say that they are probably the best value for money piggyback provided you have a tuner who knows how to install/tune them - and this is very important. so to answer the question, YES they can AVOID fuel-cut completely. Dont be fooled by the "fuel cut defender" either. It has less functionality than the SAFC and once the AFM voltage reaches the limit you set with it, the car will just run leaner and leaner as the airflow increases after that - not exactly safe for the engine. Dont waste your money on this, either get a cheap SAFC or spend a little bit more and go the E-manage. Just my 2c

That sounds GREAT. This is really good info I had seen globes with a H1? fitting in the shop that say "xenon" on them and wasn't sure if they were suitable, even though they definitely weren't proper HID lights...but sounds like I need some like you've got. Seeing where you're going at night is quite helpful...as will be spotting (and avoiding) any wildlife along the way as I trek across a few state borders next friday/saturday

You still get turbo lag, just that its less likely to drop off boost between gear changes, which is only important at the drag strip really. I'd guess in day-to-day driving, the manual would feel a lot more responsive. I like my autos purely for convenience. No manual gear changing(duh), and no clutch. Maybe I'm just lazy... I wouldn't be putting a stock auto box behind that much power either...especially the DE auto box. Plus I'd suggest that a 500hp RB25DET would be laggy, but it probably depends how much money's gone into it? Hope it all goes well anyhow...

Also isn't there a warning somewhere saying not to run more than 55W globes with polycarbonate lenses? not sure what the stagea lenses are made with...can anyone give more info on this? just dont wanna ruin anything. plus I'm assuming that higher wattage globes will need replacing more often? my 55W cheapies need replacing every 4-6 months or so it seems...