Beer Baron

for my money given current forex rates i would go with: tomei rods (had between $1000-$1200 at the moment and very nice) as the guys said there is lots of good piston options out there. so piston choice is a bit more open. CP pistons are a fine choice. or maybe some mahle short skirt pistons if you are that way inclined. there's other good options too for reasonable money, just do a bit of research on what people are currently using in RBs.

lol. nasty.

also totally agree we are sick, sick people. still if you're going to be stuck in a timewarp might as well make it an 80s/90s timewarp. there's barely a car I want to own that wasn't made in the 80s or 90s. maclaren F1 F40 diablo E30 etc etc. even jap stuff was at it's best then and that goes for bikes too.

for sure, 850 is the go. they are pretty cheap these days but the running costs! my god man the running costs! would make a GTR seem cheap to run. and yes I'd like a 2002 but most of all a really neat, original E30 M3 EVO (later model with the bettter engine etc).

if they are not electric then they are definitely fakes. all real ganadors have electric adjustment.

i know you monkey. hence why i said: "yeah 26 one is pretty crap (windage tray) and a fairly compromised set-up (meaning sump, pickup the whole bit) all round (they do have a better pick-up though). their only good point is they can look kind of cool being alloy instead of the cake tin GTST gear, not good for their weight though."

agreed. skids and happy laps down the back streets in your local industrial area at 4pm on fridays would be great. trying to get it fast around a circuit may shorten your life expectancy drastically.

yeah kind of wrong. both RON and MON are a measurements of the fuels ability to resist knock on a test engine. MON is tested at a higher RPM that RON which makes it a bit more relevant in most peoples eyes (we are still talking very low rpm, like under 2,000). both tests run the fuel in a special test engine with variable compression till it knocks but the mon test is at higher rpm, with heated fuel and the also advance the ign timing. RON (and MON for that matter) is out of 100 as compared to the control 'octane'. however since some additives in fuel have better knock resistance than the control (iso-octane) you can get a number higher than 100. US 91 AKI fuel is about 95 RON. our 98RON is about 94 AKI but there is no direct correlation between RON and MON. some substances will be as much as 20 or 30 points higher in RON vs MON, some will be only a few points apart and some (like the control octane) are actually equal in RON and MON. if you want more info i'm sure there would be some fuel info site or even wiki or howstuffworks etc on this.

yeah maybe, but US fuel is not MON either. it's an average of MON and RON so their 91 is still not quite as good as our 98 but not as far off as most people think.

i'm not so convinced a 3 wheeled car is the way to go fast on a track. perhaps if it had a motorbike style rear tyre and a suspension set-up where you could ride it like a bike (to get it leaned over in corners) it would be good. but I can't help but think the way it's set-up it'd be rolling over hard on the outside front wheel. still it would be great fun to just burn around in.

lol. it always read 0.... guess what that means.........

yeah most good tuners I know quite like the way autronics work. just takes a bit of time to get your head around the efficiency based stuff but good once you know how to use it. the autronic is a great option for the money. but for this user who already has a M800 and CDI I'd be getting the 2nd car set-up to use that. Thank god someone said it. I see all these bloody keyboard tuners and bench racers telling me all the time: "XXX brand ECU is better than a motec/autronic/whatever as it has 8 inputs vs the motecs 7 and it has 10 outputs where as the motec only has 6, plus this whizz bang ecu has 30X30 map where as the motec/whatever only has 20X20 map and it's processor is faster blah blah blah." the reality is if the ecu has enough inputs to monitor the sensors you need and enough outputs to drive your injectors, igntion and other solenoids etc (boost control, idle motor etc) then any more is just a wank. THE REAL difference between ECU's is not quantifiable with a number or rating. it's in the base programming of the ECU (it's 'smarts'), it's in the way the ECU interpolates between values, it's in the logic of the thing and how it deals with stuff. 3d and 4d mapping etc is also nice but you can just tell in the way some cars run whether the ecu is any good or not. sadly you cannot measure this stuff and on paper 2 ecus may have the same hardware, the same inputs and outputs, the same map resolution but in the end one will run the car like a swiss watch and the other will run it like the busted arse of a thai lady-boy gigolo. this is where stuff like motec is very good. they put a lot of time in their basic algorithms and logic programming and their ecu's are 'smart'. I also am not a big fan of their pricing system where you buy an ECU that half works and then pay through the nose to get passwords to unlock all the good shit but I guess it works for people who don't need advanced functions and just want a good sound ECU. I have little experience with vipec so I cannot comment on how good they are in this area of unquantifiable stuff but of ecus I do have experience with I do know motec is very good. it's like diamonds, their weight is measured in carats (easy to compare), the clarity is measured too (easy to compare), even the colour is measured against a scale but beyond those things, of most importance is how well the stone is cut and there is no grading system for that. 2 stones of equal size, clarity and colour and both the same traditional round brilliant cut. one could be worth 50% more than the other based on how it's cut with the right proportions where as the cheaper one was a 'greedy' cut and sacrificed the proportions to gain a higher yield from the un-cut stone. so it is with ECUs, the stuff you can't measure is just as important as how many injectors it can run sequentially.

what turbo's are you using? any other details?

what turbo's etc?

yeah I considered it might be the change in tyre radius but didn't think it would be that dramatic given the standard tyre has such a small sidewall vs a semi slick. still it works out very well ratio wise at EC.

I also want an 8 series beemer. yeah baby. they are practically modern for me. 90s style!

interesting. maybe I could get MOS burger to sponsor me in a new beetle? I reckon with the right decals from side on it could look like a burger. then they could have MOS burger 'trade stalls' there. good plan.

weevil is right. you complain that shannons is too expensive but that just car is cheap but with shit cover... just like most things you get what you pay for. you can have cheaper, less comprehensive cover or more expensive, better cover. now figure it out. shannons may cost a bit more but they actually give decent cover. In the last 8 years or so I've owned probably 20 cars or more. all insured with shannons from my R35 GTR to my S13 drifter. sadly for me some years ago one of my cars was stolen and not recovered. shannons were pretty good. they did investigate (and personally I'm glad they did as it shows diligence, if they just blindly pay out total loss claims premiums would shoot up for everyone) and once cleared they promptly paid. I can't really ask for more than that, they are careful but fair in my experience.

i knew you were cool! agree they are fking shit cars and be lucky to outrun a dual amputee in one but they do something to me. sadly on my list of F40s/countach/diable the 928 is about the only one I can afford! go tony montana!

absolutely BEAUTIFUL car mate. lovely work gone into it both by yourself and meridian too. it's cool learning as you go. and you do learn bloody heaps. it's going to be so much fun when you finally get it on a track.

yeah 26 one is pretty crap and a fairly compromised set-up all round (they do have a better pick-up though). their only good point is they can look kind of cool being alloy instead of the cake tin GTST gear, not good for their weight though.

BTW I missed you at WTAC. no one even ripped skids on the hill...

lol, and we both know you definitely pull hard enough... you got some kick panel covers for R32 for me? and a farken exhaust tip ya prick? will trade for radiator shroud...

off the track a bit but probably the best race-track for food i've been to is fuji speedway. nice choice of options there and they serve beers too (with a cool auto beer vending machine/robot).

well yeah dagwood dog/pluto pup/corn dog is a sure fire licence to drive the porcelain bus (and yes I get sucked in and buy one now and then) but I saw people eating some burgers etc that looked pretty decent. I'd not seen that stuff before.