rev210

akeenan, tax deductions...it's used for work. I have had the car for almost 3 years now so I need to get a new one so I can claim more depreciation. I've been 6 months in decision land trying to think of the car to get as a replacement. In the mean time while I can't make up my mind I do little things to make it quicker and more efficient.

the stock airbox is good enough for the mine's gtrs (600+HP), so its good enough for you.

put a brick on the gas pedal in neutral. I'm sure it will see a good 15-17,000rpm before the engine parts start coming out the exhaust. we did this to a mazda 808 wagon(and a few others) with the 1600cc motor and although we didn't have a tacho readout, we were pretty sure it was singing at 14,000rpm for a good 10min of fireworks display out of the tail pipe, the longest we ever saw, before the engine seized.

the GTR was a gtst with a body kit. Or it was only running on 5 cylinders.

those times are done on a street/bitumen surface NOT a real drag strip. Much like all the other times you will see manufacturers and magazines claim. And as everyone knows the street is far better for traction when you run road tyres.

rob77, The e-manage is much better but I was not prepared to go through the whole 'tuning' thing since I am probably selling the car shortly. Also the knock sensor and 15sec log sold me along with the price. I'd say the emanage will make more power for sure.

you need ideally two people to get the front ones out without the risk of squashing your hand into red jam. I did mine by myself and althought it took only minutes I had the fear of god put into me by a close call.

benm, Maybe I'll do some dyno runs, if I really need to. Like the S-afc/cam gear. Otherwise its just a waste of money. Gtst-vspec, All the mods on that list I know work, exept for the cam gear, because I have used them on other vehicles. Most don't yeild very much power but improve response and together they should add up to quite a punch in accelleration. How much will I need to get into 12's will be the interesting part.

gtst-vspec, you might like to look at the KCA349 kit from whiteline. That is the one I have and you should be able to get it locally. Maybe that silvia owner might part with his (they are the same kit).

the rattle is from the thrust bearing contacting the much heavier sprung pressure plate. When the noise is more a bearing like squeal or metal on metal grinding then you can start worrying. The noise can be reduced a little by adjusting the clutch. but it will always be there.

XRW, I've seen tuning guys I respect make some very silly mistakes too. Things like spending two days fixing everything (and chargng for it) that wasn't at fault and missing the problem still , which turned out to be a faulty plug lead! Which I found with a test on a multimeter. Fault finding is one job I don't eny, and its one that shows up our humanity, afterall no one is perfect.

flames and quicker turbo spool up. Top end flow is increased as well. If you look inside the catalytic it is quite a restrictive peice of work. Having a de-cat pipe or better still a flame thrower is good for off street work. If the exhaust joint does a nice 3 bolt flange and give you some spare gaskets its only a 10min job so you can stay legal on the street and go wild at the track. Does the plex allow you to run dump pipes/flame throwers these days?

That vibration you feel is due to the front part of the kit. As opposed to following the torque reccomendations (I tried it before and got nasty vibrations and bouncing off the bump stops) I tightened the the bushes within an inch of their lives. No more vibration.

I am keen to get the R33 into the 12's now, so I thought I'd detail my plan of attack. Just so people can track my success and failure as I mod down the path. The objective is to get into the 12's with the stock turbo and intercooler without huge boost (hopefully 10psi or a snick over) and retaining stock or better fuel ecconomy and without sacrificing road manners. The factory ecu will be retained with just the S-afc. Plan A. * tune the Apexi S-afc II for additional horsepower and broaden the power band. Plan B. * add a HKS adjustable cam gear to the exhaust side at 4degrees retard. And retune the S-afc again. Set to bring boost on quicker not peak power. Plan C. * Change factory pulleys over to lightweight and slightly underdriven alloy ones. Just like the light flywheel, rev..rev..rev.. Plan D. * Remove the fluid clutch style engine fan and replace with thermo fan.Removes drag and weight from the pulley, as above. Plan E. * Buy wider tyres for the rear. Aw do I have too? Plan F. * Use toluene. I use this when I get bored anyway, but I'll tune an S-afc map for it. Each plan I will try to impliment with sepparate drives down the 1/4, to demonstrate the relative effects. However I will only proceed to the next mod if I don't reach 12.99, then again I probably can't help myself:D

Learn more about how your own car works, so you can bring that knowledge to the requests you make of tuners. This knowledge will help give you the power to tell the tuner what to do and how to do it. Most will take this kind of direction on board, if they don't then go elsewhere. It helps you shop around and save money. Bottom line guys is that ALL the named tuners do enough work that is satifactory to excellent to see them still doing alot of business. I'd ike to see guys like A1 and Chriss Mills get more into 'imports', they run rings around there 'jap specialists' when it comes to the basics of quality engine building and fabrication not to mention value for money.

HBF just quoted me $696.00 for $25K, restricted driver and $832 for unrestricted anyone can have a go. Wonder how much they will charge for the Dodge Viper RT10 I was looking at?

the ls1 is a mean motor. I know there are plenty of fairly slow stock commodores around sporting them, for instance the GTS monaro I hosed this morning on the freeway on ramp. But it doesn't take much to free up the power lurking beneath and there are some very good street weapons just waiting to show a gtst how mortal it is (even if it doesn't look very good doing it).

Well the 1/4 as some people have said is a good indication of accelleration.Without much skill people can go beyond the 0 to the speedlimit fun that they experience on the road, an activity that is far safer than going around corners in suburbia at the highest speed. It also means they can pull out a copy of wheels magazine and compare their ride's 400m time with all the manufactured super-cars. Certainly the track is a far more demanding car and driver experience and set up there is more difficult and more expensive.For comparison purposes the car setup is more difficult to share with others because the tracks vary as much as driver skill does. If we are talking a 'street car' the abillity on the 1/4 and the track is always compromised to some degree, with 'serious' cars in both cases making uncomfortable street rides. The 1/4 mile is a more approachable and standardised motorsport activity that offers a g-force experience be it only in one direction.

I think with the aftermarket BOV, one needs to actually 'test' the accelleration objectively. Seat of the pant's is only good as a guide with modifiactions that produce a fairly dramatic effect, I doubt the BOV change will yeild any more than a very slight performance increase, certainly one not able to be easily detected. More often than not it is a placebo effect that is 'felt'. I am certainly guilty of falling fowl of the 'placebo feel' and it is a trap for everyone who likes to have a go at road tuning. Without a stopwatch or some other measurement device claims of improvement are difficult to back up. These days I try my best to avoid seat of the pants evaluations, or at least cross reffernce it with something else. To sum up I guess if you are heading down the mod path, with a small budget, on a stock gtst, I would reccomend that the BOV be placed in the cosmetic list, or at least at the lower half of your performance list below thermo fan and pulley changes.

I have read an article (could be hpi?) testing showed that the aftermarket ones did absolutely nothing to improve performance, test on a supra I think.

the standard Vs other BOV is an interesting issue. I think that testing with a g-meter or something could determine the merits pretty easy.

Chill mate. 'Peice of poo' are your words not mine. Sure I have some opinions about the car that might sound a little depreciating but, I didn't knock the performance at any time. I might be a little envious that I can't fit into one because I like the idea of having a car that looks 'family' (ie: not mean or sexy) and can kick ass. Horses for courses mate. You don't like line's cause they look like taxi's I don't like GTiR's cause I can't fit in them (just cause they look like a *#%* box doesn't put me off). Do you think your car is better than anything else on the road? sure you do! you would have sold it otherwise. Better than 'almost' everything then? I'm sure you believe that too, once again you would have sold it otherwise. What about better than everything else on the road? I can't say I do, there are a number of cars I would much rather be driving than the R33, I just can't afford them or they don't fit my application well enough. BTW, can afford to buy a GTR, just didn't because the gtst is the car I use for work (better fuel ecconomy). I have only done a 13.4, what have you got to worry about? thats pretty darn slow. From the sounds of things GTiR's will kick my ass on a good day, then again talk is cheap and racing is fun.

I have to say XRW, that just about every tuner I've encountered has some fictional beliefs. Tim Slako is one you can add to the bottom list. Then again he does do fantastic work 90% of the time, and is worth a visit. Like all the guys you put in the 'Avoid' list.

it shouldn't go to 7 or else you are at a nice 15psi+.

I take my hat off to the faster car. 13.15 is pretty good. There was another GTiR on that day only managed a 13.6, still good enough to spank most gtst's. I am quite sure I put more km's on mine than most, about 35-40,000kms each year. so you have now run a 12.7 at the drags, thats pretty fast for the shopping trolley. What size turbo did you put on? Aftermarket management?