cooks44

Yup. Was a friend/work colleague of mine. Haven't seen it in the flesh, but heard all about it of course! It was a truck that plowed through, no idea who's at fault however... His wife was driving at the time, he just got dropped of at work. Luckily everyone's alright - that the main thing! Sorry to hear about your near scrape with him/her, Intensevil - I trust his driving but have always worried about her behind the wheel! Does have full comp, so a replacement is already in the works... (Sorry, nothing available for the vultures!) Somehow I think the replacement will only be driven by one person from now on!

Ah, my bad. Thought you were talking about personal/SME hosting... I'll shut up then!

There is if you look in the right place! 1500/512 Business grade, static IP unlimited (the old definition of the word before Telstra raped it) @ $180/mth.... Dunno if I could get this again but we've been on it for 12 months quite happily! Now, our email alone is around 800mb to 1gb per day, might be 200-500mb worth of FTP traffic a day so we're definately over 30GB per month (I think some months have been around 100-150GB) and there is no excess charge or shaping... (Now about BT port forwarding.....)

Can't remember if there was any dyno testing involved, but someone either posted or linked to an independant lab. test of the 98 octane fuels on our market for this reason exactly. Do a search on the site and I'm sure you'll find the original thread. It came back with the same answers as is listed above: Best: BP Ultimate 2nd: Mobil 8000 3rd: Shell Optim(istic)ax

I've got some pics here, they're of P1's though (cos' that's what I'm looking to put on my GTS-T!) Not much difference between them, just narrower spokes than the P2's. Large pics however, so better I email them to you instead of posting here. PM/post your email address (your profile doesn't allow email sending) and I'll send them through.

From your post comparing yours to other NA cars, I'm assuming yours is a NA? That does sound a little odd... I can imagine a turbo with some mods (and not much tuning) getting the figure down to this, but not a NA. My GTS-T (stock) currently runs around 400-420km/tank city driving, 620-650km country. (220km lead foot.) So I'm sure with some tuning you can get your economy back up.

It could just be the float sticking, but either way you have to get to the fuel sender to find out. Mine sticks at full for the first 80kms or so, then drops to around 7/8.

I have read in at least three places that there is meant to be a maintenance-free battery with a vent hole that allows a tube to be fitted to it... This tube leads outside the car. I watched one of my father's friends disconnect a charger from a battery before turning off the power point, I then watched him fly 30 feet through the air before hitting a brick wall, the impact killing him. I have always worried about hydrogen gasses building up in my boot, with all the audio amps in the boot and smoking in the back seat. Hasn't happened yet but I keep worrying! Next battery I get will either have this vent tube, or be enclosed in a box that's forcibly ventilated.

I guess no one's seen "Welcome To Woop Woop"..... You're lucky.

It could be the high power head unit on low current wiring problem..... Most older stereos (dunno years, maybe before mid 90's?) had a low current constant wire (say with a 1 amp fuse) and a high current Accessories wire (say with a 10 amp fuse). At some stage over the years they changed this to a high current CONSTANT wire (drawing 10+ amps) with a low current Accessories wire, just to switch the radio on. Now, I can't recall the wiring in my Skyline, but I'd assume the constant voltage wires in the dash are designed for low current usage (the clock drawing maybe 10mA?) and the 10 amps or so your new stereo is trying to draw is burning out the wire. With luck, there is a fuse inline there... it may not be in the fuse box though. I'd recommend running a new wire straight from the battery (or straight from your amplifier power distribution block) to this constant wire.

Anything's better then the new laws they're considering for Vic - 15km/h or over is instant loss of license.

Yeah, most of the good Japanese companies only have the elect. ones for oil and any other potentially unsafe gauge. Some companies (ie. Autometer) have 'em all available as mechanical though.

I think the other main reason for electronic vs. mechanical is the safety aspect (although the chances of something going wrong are extremely low.) Mechanical gauges require a pipe to run from the engine to the back of the gauge. If the pipe were to break/burst or the fitting came undone (as I said, extremely low odds), whatever is in the pipe is free to spray all over the interior of your car. Boost may not be too bad, you'll just end up with the cutting out problem from having a vacuum leak. But having a pressurised hot oil pipe leaking/spraying in your interior (and your face) is not good! Electrical gauges have the sensor right at the place they're measuring - if there's a leak, its in the engine bay. From memory some levels of competition don't allow mechanical gauges for this reason, highly modified engines start lowering the odds on the "things going wrong" scale. For street use though, mechanical boost gauge is fine for general boost observation (most also display the vaccum which could be advantageous to you?). I'm about to get one but am thinking of spending the extra money on an electrical with peak hold and warning. Don't have much time to watch the gauge when you're driving on the road, better to see the peak boost after your run IMHO. Having the overboost warning light is definately an added benefit too if I'm watching the road and not my boost!

Passive radiator.... oh no! Of course you're right about the tuning restrictions of a bandpass box... Mine is meant to be tuned to 52Hz, still plays up to 100Hz quite well which is where my high-pass crossovers start dropping off. The resulting drop in dB as it gets down towards 20Hz is definately noticable when testing it outside the vehicle, once inside the vehicle's acoustics flatten this drop out quite well. Still playing around with spectrum analyser software to test this properly though! So yes, given the right application a bandpass box can be great - only problem is the box volumes and port dimensions are absolutely CRITICAL as they not only tune/shape the sub's bottom end (the bass you want) but also tune it's top end creating a fixed frequency band for that subwoofer. If it suits your vehicle/application and can be tuned to the rest of the stereo well, great! But if you find out it doesn't fit in with the rest of your system you've got to start your box again from scratch. Not much fun! Personally, if you want a good result from your stereo you have to consult a specialist. There are many programs that can tell you what box a specific subwoofer needs, some even allow you to tailor the box to your requirements. But they can't tell you whether the box/sub combination is going to blend properly with your existing speaker combination or whether your amplifier is up to the task. (Hey Fhrx...?)

You can do it the same way I am - bandpass box. Find a good sub that uses a smallish volume sealed bandpass box and run the port (the sub's only audible exit) straight through the parcel shelf. Great for SQ, not great for marios - you wont hear any bass in the boot anymore! I was originally sizing up an old Cerwin-Vega AI series 10" for the job, CV's recommended bandpass box is 2.6ft³ though.... Infinity's Kappa Perfect 10.1 (10") recommends a 0.95ft³ box - easily fits under the parcel shelf! My box is currently in R&D stages (the box is together and I've tested it in position - quite a nice sound!), but it's out again for me to install the rest of the job. Will take pics once it's finished.

They try and get you to provide proof you're coming from/going to a sporting activity generally. If you've just got a bat, no good. Bat and ball and mitt, another story. I used to play inline hockey - a nice, fat hockey stick always keeps them in line! Try keeping a one metre offcut of 0GA cable left over from your amp installation in the back of your car... (OMG - it hurts!) Ah well, whadda ya do? It sucks that you can't have something nice without someone trying to pull it from under you. Glad nothing came out of it last night - now I can look at your GTR at the pizza cruise tonight!* (* - Pending both our abilities to go, that is!)

I'm hoping I can make it... got a bit to do after work but I should still be able to make it to Berwick by 9ish. Drive ideas: Beaconsfield-Emerald rd area, next parallel to that (always end up on it, can't remember the name though!), Up to Mt Dandy via Perkins Creek rd (can't guarantee traffic though!)

Yup, Webster st. Glad you got out of there. Grew up in the area, an enlightening experience I can tell you! Nope, if they were doing it for a laugh he would've had a jacket on... I'd give it 99% that they thought of an easy way to find their next two days fix... the f&@*ers.... Too bad you didn't have a few more people in your car and a bat/Club Lock/Machete/shotty/RPG. Would've been nice to get a few more dropkicks off the street.

Weren't waiting at the Webster st. lights, were you?? Either way, you did the right thing... It's not a bad idea to report it, nothing directly will come of it but a least if there's an increase in that type of incident they might start bumping up the police patrols of the area. At 1.20am in Dandy with no shirt on (it was at least 10-12°C there at that time last night...) I'd say they weren't in a normal "state-of-mind" to be decent about things. I daresay they "borrowed" the car to go meet some "friends" so the rego would be useless anyway...

Source: Alpine CDA-9185 HU w/ MP3 stacker Fronts: Infinity Kappa 6" coax. fronts w/ Cerwin-Vega! AI Series 1" component tweeters Rears: Infinity Kappa 6½" coax. Sub: Infinity Kappa Perfect 10.1 in 0.95ft³ sealed bandpass (ported through orig. rear shelf speaker holes) Amp: Infinity RA6006 Reference amp. Didn't want too much volume, already half-deaf from doing too much sound-engineering minus the ear plugs. But meets my main goals: Clarity & leaving as much boot space as possible! (Also helps having easy accessibility to things... Hmm, where's that sponsorship?!? )

It's only about a 5km drive for me, but I'd love to come! Yell out when the day's decided.

It can work, but causes many other headaches further down the track... If you just want to fix the car and get rid of it (to someone you don't know or don't like!) it's an option. But if an engine's been Chem-I-Weld(ed) (or fish gutsed as I call it - it stinks) I wouldn't call it a reliable engine anymore. Too much to worry about with bits of crap floating around, galleries getting blocked, etc. My house mate's in the same boat with his Z31 - he'd love to Chem-I-Weld it and get rid of it, but would prefer to do it properly. Personally, if you've got the time and another means of transportation - do it properly. Spend the time to strip down and fix the engine yourself, you'll know it backwards by the end so any future repairs that need to be done are a piece of cake. You'll also save a heap of money in the process and prevent yourself from being known for selling bodgy cars...

Two bolts securing the bottom section of seat (they're on the carpet, you'll see 'em), then two clips at the front edge of the bottom seat section secure to the body. (Lift up the front edge and you'll see two metal loops going down through the body. A BIG screwdriver as a lever is easiest to get them out as mine were hard as!) Back section has two bolts at the bottom, then lifts up and forward to remove. BUT: The only space through here on mine (S1 R33) would be through the removable plate leading to the battery bay. Approx. dimensions = 22" x 5"? (56cm x 14cm... I always mentally think in imperial for some reason:D) The hole that has the switch in it is about 5cm x 2.5cm, so you should be able to flick it with a metre ruler or something similar fairly easily. Doubt you could reach through without a long stick of some sort though. Good luck!

Well, my next "paint protection" will be ten coats of clear over the front half of the car - never gonna be able to stop the stone chips but at least I might be able to stop them getting through to the undercoat! Otherwise I use Maguiars advise, give it a single coat of wax (not multiple coats). Doesn't take long to put one coat of wax on - better to put one coat on more frequently (every 6-8 weeks) than many coats every 6-12 months. The electronic rust protectors do work in my experience. Yes, they're probably a big rip off (a mate had his installed for $2k!) and probably not much use for the majority of us... But if you live in or near a coastal area or are constantly driving in areas that will get dirt throughout the external areas of your car they can save quite a few $$$ in the long run. Some of the 4x4s I've seen/had have no rust where similarily driven cars from the same area look like swiss cheese...

Best place I can think of is Carac Trailers & Accessories on Dandy-Frankston Rd, Dandenong. Checked the web but they don't have a website... (many listings talking about them though!) 9794-7977.