Samon

Hmmm... I dunno! It may depend on what they class as "low speed" and what you class as "low speed". i.e. if it's actually classified as "medium speed" then yeah, without it it's gonna feel a lot heavier... I'd love to throw my car up on a hoist and play around with the steering at different 'speeds' to see what happens...

As you can see from that diagram (from Nissan USA)... Low speeds: HICAS does nothing... disabled Medium speeds: rears turn the opposite way to the fronts at first (i.e. tighter turning angle), then once the HICAS computer detects that the car is responding to the turning, the rears turn back the opposite way, slightly reducing the turning circle but improving stability (i.e. theoretically less body-roll because it is kinda 'crab-walking' across the road rather than rotating around a center axis). High speeds: rears turn the same direction as the fronts, like the second stage of the medium speed above. I'm not sure of the official values for low, medium or high speeds though.

It does different things depending on the speed you're traveling...

Oops...my bad! resistor = lower voltage = ECU "sees" less air-flow = less fuel = leaner

Really? It really shouldn't make any difference whatsoever. The HICAS is designed to only kick in at higher speeds (i.e. 70km/h+ iirc), and doesn't move under that (unless you're parking at some serious speeds! ) The 4WS system on the Honda's is designed as a parking aide, as it actually works in the direct oppposite way to that of a 'line. Ours turns the rear wheels THE SAME WAY as the front wheels... the hondas turn the opposite (tighter turning circle). With ours the car kinda 'side-steps' across the road slightly rather than having to turn and lean the car over.

Definently agree. For street use, and even some 'spirited' driving through some nice twisty corners, the HICAS is actually quite good. It allows the car to remain slightly better balanced through the corners. The problems occur as soon as the rear end has let go (i.e. for drifting, etc), when it leaves you with a kinda 'sloppy' feeling. The first time you feel the HICAS kick in at high speeds (it only kicks in after about 70km/h iirc) it can feel quite unnerving... almost like understeer but not at the same time! Once you're used to it, it's okay. For "grip racing", its really quite good... but for anything where you want to maintain control over the rear end without the computer trying to "help" you, it's gotta go.

Lol yeah I know these things! It's just a resistor that gets put across your AFM output, lowering the signal. Basically it just runs the engine slightly richer.

Yeah I wish I had found that before I bought mine (R33 GTS). Might've seen a few things that cost me later on! As for the R33 GTS as a first car... mine was my second but I'd certainly say it's a pretty good way to introduce yourself to a car with a *little* bit of power... I went from an old Sigma with like 3rwkw (maybe not... but pretty woeful) to my R33 GTS and I must say that for at least the first year that was plenty of power for me. It's not about having a super-quick car, but I'd always wanted an R33 and it's a whole lotta fun to drive, handles fantastic (esp. compared to the majority of 'daily-drivers' that are in the price range of a first-car buyer... and certainly better than any falcodore of the same year!), and goes well enough to not be boring. Oh, and of course it was a major cop magnet Gotta deal with that! Those red "[P]lease Pull Me Over" plates really sucked!

Have a read through this thread... lots of useful pointers in there!

A little bit of searching wouldn't go astray... Anyway, here's a little something to get you started. I own a N/A R33, but for the first two points that's not an issue. Firstly, the oil level should be at the top of the little cross-hatched section... Secondly, I regularly hit the 6800RPM limiter... I know it's a lot safer in an NA than a turbo, but if you look around you'll find plenty of evidence that 4500-5000 is nowhere near the limits of these cars. Thirdly... well squeal from your turbo I can't help you with Fourthly, I'd personally have expected a little better... again about the searching... have a look through this thread and there are a couple of stock figures... e.g. this one... It's a stock R33 GTST with a cat-back exhaust and upgraded fuel pump.. nothing else.

The main factor of course is that you can sell your car and get some of what you've spent back...

A woman awakes during the night to find that her husband is not in bed. She puts on her robe and goes downstairs to look for him. She finds him sitting at the kitchen table with a hot cup of coffee in front of him. He appears to be in deep thought, just staring at the wall. She watches as he wiped a tear from his eye and takes a sip of his coffee. 'What's the matter, dear?' she whispers as she steps into the room, 'Why are you down here at this time of night? The husband looks up from his coffee, 'It's the 20th Anniversary of the day we met'. She can't believe he has remembered and starts to tear up. The husband continues, 'Do you remember 20 years ago when we started dating? I was 18 and you were only 16,' he says solemnly. Once again, the wife is touched to tears thinking that her husband is so caring and sensitive. 'Yes, I do' she replies. The husband pauses. The words were not coming easily. 'Do you remember when your father caught us in the back seat of my car?' 'Yes, I remember' said the wife, lowering herself into a chair beside him. The husband continued.. 'Do you remember when he shoved the shotgun in my face and said, 'Either you marry my daughter or I will send you to prison for 20 years?' 'I remember that, too' she replied softly. He wiped another tear from his cheek and said 'I would have gotten out today.'

I was kinda thinking along those lines... I would have expected amore in the region of $2000-$3000, possibly up to $4000 If you sand back and prime the whole car yourself it's more like $700

Hey cosmokram3r, Let me know how you get on... My 33 had an unfortunate conversation with a brick letterbox and I am possibly considering just having it repaired and then a full respray (I can get it repaired for a couple of hundred bucks, but it's about $700/$800 with painting... so if it works out at like $2000 for a full respray then it might be worth it as the paint's in 'alright' condition... nothing too flash).

I not too sure why cool_banana is so keen on PM contact rather than just posting in the public forum... but anyway! I asked the same question (about the hi lo beam) via PM... they are just a single lo-beam. In his exact words: "normally we only put in low beam because it bright enough so no need to put the high beam only low beam is ok"

Absolutely! If you know the specs for the LED's you're using, here is a little tool to calculate what size resistors you should use: http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz

Your links are broken...

Tip #1: Search! http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/DI...tch-t58320.html Tip #2: Search! http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/Cl...ent-t45145.html

Ooh! Ohh! what exactly is in the kit?

I was with Just Cars when I first got my NA R33 GTS Series 1. It was around the $1800/yr mark (I was 19, so on P's) with a $2100 excess. After a year it went down to like $1400/yr, but the excess was the same. Fair slug especially since it's in January (so just after XMas) and my rego is due at the same time! When my insurance came around this year (last month), a mate suggested I try Shannons. I thought, hey, I'm only 21, they're gonna tell me to piss off... but called up anyway (off my P's for about 2 months though...). Well the process is slightly different to most insurance companies... they asked the usual questions about age, type of car, driving history, suspensions, accidents, blah blah blah, but then moved onto the 'enthusiast' questions... "was this your dream car", "did you specifically seek out this model", "have you done any work on the car yourself", "what interest do you have in motorsport", etc... Anyway the lady went away and came back with a quote that made me almost fall off my chair! $1200/yr with a $900 excess... but with one caveat: ONLY the nominated drivers (me and the GF) are covered AT ALL! So if a mate wants to take it for a bit of a spin around the block, they aren't covered at all so I'll ahve to say no. Ah well. That's my experience anyway. Good luck! EDIT: As a bonus, they offered me pay-by-the-month for no extra... certainly helps spread the load!

so... basically a Bee*R limiter?

eBay perhaps? http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi...em=200200461403? http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi...em=110225877433?

I never buy petrol on a Friday anyway... so it really doesn't make too much difference to me! Tuesday FTW!

Ah, but if they caught on, they could up the price on Saturday, knowing that people are going to HAVE to buy petrol then coz they didn't the day before!

A bit of a load of crap IMO... I mean if you don't buy the petrol on Friday you will buy it on Thursday or Saturday. The oil companies really aren't gonna suffer at all!