warps

Ah I thought you meant the remote chord. Not used the solenoid ones personally. Not a big fan. Why do you need to operate from inside and outside?

No, Something like this http://tracksformations.com.au/battery-isolator-kit-p-48.html

Nah I weaned myself off that madness a few years ago. Still clean and proud of it.

Holy phuck it's Jason Clownshoes!! How long you been in Brissie? Long time no speak (Daihard days IIRC) Nice beemer by the way

RE: painting the slab, you will most probably scratch the buggery out of the paint in the process of erecting the shed. I painted the floor in my shed (2 pack is the best option, but be careful as some 2 pack paints are very slippery and hold a static charge). The floor now has a lot of marks on it from the steel fab work I've been doing (work benches, shelving units etc). Not a big problem but the less damage you can do the paint the better in the long run If you can get the piece between the 2 roller doors removalbe, this can give you flexibility with putting awkward shaped / sized items in the shed. It can be a good thing, although I never used the feature in the last colorbond shed I owned. You might consider a couple of sheets of translucent roof sheeting to give you a bit of natural light. This lets in the heat too, but if you only have a single strip, it might be the best compromise. I assume this is just going to be a workshop, or are you going to be parking your (and the missus) car in there permanently? If the latter, then the electric doors are fkn handy - it gets pretty tiring having to get out of the car each time you want to park it in the garage. If it's only for working on the cars, then don't waste money on the auto doors. The size you've quoted is pretty good, although you'll find that no matter how big it is, it's still too small (my current shed is 18 x 8 and I'm still looking for more room). The most important thing to think of - lots of light. Again, you can't have too much of this. I've got six double fluoro fittings in my home garage (12 x 9m) and it's nice, but could use more. Now I have the big shed, I don't work in the home garage anymore though (it's become a games room / gym / dance studio / dojo) Hope some of that helps.

Some excellent pointe below - I've added notes from my own experiences in RED Couple of other things - -Jerry can holders are very handy. I have 3 on my trailer -Tool box - you can store straps, chains and other odds and ends in there. Doesn't need to be big, and security not necessarily an issue if you're not carrying valuables in there. -Don't bother with a big tyre rack above the bonnet, unless you're expecting to go through 6 or more tyres in a weekend. I have tyre storage on the draw bar (can bolt 4 tyres down low, using a long 12" threaded rod through each pair of tyres). Low profile and doesn't get in the way. The big tyre racks make a great sail, and guarantee you'll hit your head on it every time you want to look under the bonnet of the car on the trailer. I actually do a fair amount of work on the car while it's on the trailer - easy to get under it, and the engine bay is at a good height so you don't have to bend down all the tme. - Lots of tie downs is a good thing, but once you work out the best position of your car on your trailer, you can get straps made and even a moveable bolt-down wheel chock that helps get the car into the correct position every time. - Personally I like fold-up ramps because you don't break your back lifting ramps in and out (and less chance of losing one). However, these might not work with a long car, or one with a lot of overhang. My Honda Civic has almost zero overhang at the back, so despite being FWD (and needing to be mounted a bit further back on the trailer) there's alwyas heaps of room to fold up the ramps. - Tie downs - I use the following type: It normally takes me about 5 minutes to drive the car onto the trailer and tie it down, but best of all there's no crawling around under it .

Too many variables to give a straight answer on that, but a long drawbar will generally be much more stable and much easier to reverse. If you're getting one made, make sure that the manufacturer is into racing / rallying etc, and actually uses the trailers. They will have a much better understanding of what makes a good trailer. My trailer was built by Chris Wedding (Trailers by Chris) who has been rallying for a long time, and through motorsport has been involved in towing a lot of cars. He has a very good knowledge of what works and what doesn't, and makes a brilliant trailer. I believe e's since sold the business, so not sure what their quality is like now. Don't be tempted by cheap ebay specials. My last one was a cheap "fixer upper" which was horrible. After spending over a grand and countless hours rebuilding everything, it was still a shitbox (albeit with a bling paintjob and LED lights). Was glad to see it go and buy a proper trailer. Oh, another thing (just my personal opinion here). Never loan your trailer out. Every time I loaned by old trailer it came back needing money spent on it, or some incidental damage. Each time the borrower said "ÿeh sorry bout that - didn't realise I forgot to [insert stupid omission here]". Now I have a nice new trailer, it only gets used by me. Call me selfish, but until people start treating my stuff the way I do, they're not getting their hands on my trailer. If you want to tow an R34, the trailer will need to be rated to over 2 tonne gross (unless you get an uber light one, but trailers are generally going to weigh 500kg plus). If the total weight (trailer plus load) goes over 2 tonnes, then you need brakes on all 4 wheels, and a break away system to apply brakes in the event the trailer becomes detached from the towing vehicle. Do some research on this (local transport department - building light trailers etc.)

Needs more physics Needs more sound That is all (lots of other areas where it lacks, but if they can nail these two, I'd be happy)

HQ racer? Cool! There's one next door at the WRS workshop. I'm always amazed how fast those things can be with the 202, 3 speed and single stromberg. You should find the Navara tows well, although might be soft in the rear end (if it's anything like Pathfinders). I believe there are Bilstein upgrades for them fairly cheap in USA.

Dam wrong thread. Was thinking about the "fun" thread To answer your question, mine cost me $14k with a bucket load of brand new race gear still in original packaging. Could sell it for $3-4k and come in well under budget (if that were my aim) Not what I'd call a daily driver, or good for long trips. As you were.

You're kidding right? They aren't fun! Good cars, admittedly, but not what I'd call fun. Now take the engine out, throw a K20 head on it and squeeze the lot into an EK Civic and now you've got a fun car!

Totally. If you're getting a Ram (or F series or Chev equivalent) it would only be the 3500 or equivalent size (hell, the Disneyland shuttle buses were all based on F650's, and are almost as big as a city council bus!!). The 3500 is impracitcal over here, but in good ol' boy redneck USA, I totally get them, and always find myself drawn to the big trucks / SUV's while I'm over there. Maybe there's a redneck in me trying to get out. I agree with the above on the new Patrol. Stupid move for the Oz market. Harry - is that true about needing the passenger to put it in drive (or even just a little exaggeration)?

Wonder why they never imported the Armada. It's a slightly bigger version of the Pahfinder (between Pathy and Patrol) with 5.6L V8. I saw a few in USA and Canada last month and quite liked them. Mind you, I was very taken by the Dodge Ram 3500 in the downstairs carpark of the ski lodge. That 6.7L Cummins turbodiesel would make light work of any hills. those things are only $60k in USA. Still thinking about how I can import one. 7 tonne towing capacity mmmmmmmm

Well done, Marlin Look forward to seeing the beast. At that price, I might think about upgrading mine I see a couple of brand new Ti 550's for sale for low 60's drive away. That's some good buying

Driving around town, you'll never tell the difference. On a race track, you will notice, depending on the car. There are some glorious FWD's out there (Renault Clio Sports, Focus RS, many of the "performance" oriented Civics and Integras). These still display FWD tendencies, but can be driven on the throttle, and can be every bit as quick as a simiar power / weight RWD. A poor example of a FWD is horrid at anything above walking pace, and should be avoided if you value the driving experience. Take some of the above FWD's for a test drive (thought the Focus RS will be out of your price range) and you'll be surprised how much fun they can be. I'm not about to start a FWD vs RWD thread, as there are already heaps of those. Just don't be blinkered by the uneducated comments from those who have probably never driven a decent FWD. Give one a go and make up your own mind.

Sounds good - must have dropped their pricing. My Ti was $60 on the road with all the abovementoned fruit. At the time, the Ti 550 was close to $80 on the road. At $57 for the ST 550 you're mad if you don't. The pulling power will astound you. Even the 2.5's do a bloody good job IMHO, using the old fashioned 5 sp auto. 7 speed will be heaven.

The ST550 is indeed appealing, but they seem to be overpriced for a busted arse second rate Nissan. I don't know if they have come down much in cost, but a year ago when I bought by Pathfinder Ti, it would have cost almost $20k extra on the road for the V6 diesel. I Just can't justify that sort of coin.

You sorted with this? Where on the Gold Coast are you? I'm about to place a steel order, and can throw in a length of the 10x20mm Flat. You pay for the material (about $30 I guess) and I can make the 2 pieces up for you - I keep the leftover material. Sound fair? What size holes do you want? I presume evenly spaced along the length of the bar? Not threaded or anything like that? How soon do you need them?

I picked up one of these in Vegas earlier this month - we gave it a good test on our ski holiday. For $200 I'm very impressed with the video and sound quality, although in the waterproof case the sound is muffled somewhat. We had the camera mounted on my son's helmet, and the image is stable considering the amount of movement. The only problem was that it fogged up on the inside of the case a couple of times (-14 deg will do that) but it was only when it had picked up moisture from being inside. I sat the case near the heater overnight, and there was no moisture, so no fogging the next day. The lens on the case is exposed, and can easily get scratched, so that's something to be very careful about. I keep mine stored in the plastic sleeve it shipped with, and ensure I handle it carefully. I found the 170 degree FOV good for skiing / snowboarding, although the 120 deg will probably be better for motorsport applications. Just looking at what kinds of mounts I can make for it to use it in motorsport use. The adhesive mounts stick very well, but of course you can't swap from helmet to helmet. All in all I'm pretty impressed with the quality of this thing (typical Sony), but TBH I haven't compared too many other motorsport cameras.

Thanks for the offer, but Risking's suggestion makes perfect sense. Hadn't even thought of a guillotine before. Will give that a try first. It'll make the sheets easier to manage at my end too (didn't fancy trying to manoeuvre 113kg sheets of steel without plate clamps or a decent crane / forklift) Most of the stuff I'm making won't need anything fancier than right angle cuts, so no need for fancy bevels. Will keep it in mind for future projects though (already have a few more projects on thr drawing board) The first project will be a steel rack so I can store and sort all this steel I'm buying.

I was going to get it all in raw lengths (looks like about 45 full lengths in assorted sizes atm). Will need to get the plate cut though. I'm ordering 3 sheets of 5mm plate (2400x1200) and need to cut them into 800mm x 1200mm lengths. Was considering water cutting, as that gives a nice clean cut. I have a plasma cutter which should give fairly good cuts. Failing that I can always resort to the good ol' 1mm cutting discs on the grinder. All the RHS, angle, flat etc I'll just chop to length with my drop saw. It will be getting a good workout int he new year. Out of interest, how much do you charge for laser cutting? As I said, cutting 3 full sheets into 3 pieces each (6 cuts in total)

I guess you would call it industrial, although it's at the small end of the scale (up to 25x50 RHS, flat, angle, SHS). Do you mean plain mild steel tubing, or more exotic stuff (CrMo, CDS etc)? I had a bit of a search for your thread on tubing but couldn't find it. Care to post a link?

Don't all answer at once I've sent off 6 RFQ's (2 of the 8 suppliers I tried to contact have had their phone number cancelled, so I can only imagine they've moved on). Have received 4 quotes so far, and there's definiltley variation in the pricing. The biggest variation was for 5mm plate where the dearest was 124% dearer (yes, more than double the price) than the cheapest. The other stuff (RHS, angle, flat) saw a variation of 16% to 53% between the cheapest and dearest. So far there doesn't seem to be any one supplier that's cheapest in every area. Some are cheap on one product, and dear on another. They will all deliver for around $50, too (looking at about a tonne of steel). Definitely an interesting exercise. Shows that depending on what you're after, it's worth shopping around.

Hi all Wondering if any of the Brissy / Gold Coast boys can suggest a decent steel supplier. I've found pretty big discrepanies in pricing over the years, so definitely worth shopping around. My usual supplier (South East Steel at Molendinar) has shut up shop, which is a shame because he was regularly 20-30% cheaper than anywhere else (maybe that's why they went bust?) I'm doing the ring around and getting quotes from several suppliers (those who are prepared to answer phones, anyway) but was wondering if anyone knows of a good supplier I could talk to, maybe speed up the process. I won't be buying in commercial quantities, so no point looking at a wholesaler who expects to sell 20 tonnes of steel a year before giving any discounts. cheers.

Hi all Surplus to my requirements is this CIGWeld Easywelder EC stick welder. It's rated to 140A so is good for welding up to 10mm, but can easily weld 1.6mm too (even thinner if you knw what you're doing, but I never welded anything thinner than that). I now have a MIG and TIG (which also doubles as a Stick welder) so this one just sits on the shelf gathering dust. The welder is about 15 years old, and has been used for light duty home fabrication (shelving, work benches etc). I haven't used it now for about 6 years, although I fired it up this morning to test it and it still works a treat. These are a good portable welder (they were some of the first "caddy" style welders to hit the market around 20 years ago, and at the time were the ducks nuts. I remember the boilermakers at work raving about them). It's served me well, but I no longer have any use for it. There are no accessories included (gloves, helmet etc) although I might be able to find the original welding mask that came with it. For the price of LCD auto darkening helmets these days, I wouldn't bother with the old school stuff anymore though. Note there is some insulation damage to the earth lead, as shown in one of the photos. It's been taped up with black tape for a good 10 years, although I peeled the tape off it this morning to show the damage. Since it's on the earth lead, it's hardly likely to cause a hazard, even if left uncovered. I'm too lazy to post specs for the welder, but I found the same model for sale on Gumtree (http://www.gumtree.c...r-ec/1010815735). Note that one is NOT mine - I've just posted the link in case someone wants more specs on the welder. The welder has a 15A plug, and comes with the work piece / lead as shown in the pictures. Looking for $50 for the welder - pick up only from the Gold Coast. PM if you're interested.