GoldZilla

I was gonna ask about that, are they somehow exempt, or just dumb-ar$es? I've probably caught a cab maybe three times in 5 years, but I've always noticed this. The last think I want to happen if I get in an accident is for one of these clowns to injure me due to the fact that they were bouncing around during an accident they likely caused...

Thanks mate, PM received - about to reply...

It's 2146. Thanks

Alright, I'm going up again this week, so who else is keen? For those from the Sydney end, we meet at the truck-stop at Berowra @ 7.30pm, and leave to head up at 8pm.

They're handy if it's a cold and rainy night, and the inside of the car is getting steamy 'cos the heater is on. You can open the windows slightly and not have the rain getting in.

That pretty much says it all - the government wants to be SEEN to be doing something, it's the way they win votes! Bureaucrats don't really care much about a situation or scenario until it affects them directly. Until one of them is personally affected by a car crash, or sees the impact of the gains to be made from doing a proper driving course, then they'll never push for changes to occur. Word has it that one former MP, John Anderson, who used to be the Minister for Transport, was a bit of a car nut, and supported some of the initiatives that would get us a better deal with roads, licensing, etc. Maybe his views were too logical, as I think he was in due course "re-assigned" to another area.

I would have gone a silvertop ECCS RB20 as well, but seeing as you got it on a good deal, then I don't blame you. +1 for pics of E30 with 2JZ, please!!!

Happy birthday Caine! *throws papier-mache balloons in air, which promptly fall straight back down onto the floor* Damn, how many birthdays are there in August?

The door trims are pretty easy to remove, probably the hardest bit is maneuvering the door trim around so you can get to the plug for the power windows and mirrors. I'm guessing all C34 Stageas will be the same in this regard, the only difference being if the car was optioned from new with standard co-axial speakers or splits (like mine was). The speakers are screwed into plastic brackets (front and rear) and if you buy 6.5" speakers they should bolt straight in. You might have to alter the brackets a bit, my speakers had bigger magnets than the factory ones, so I had to remove quite a bit of the backing around that area. (I took the lazy way out and just ground them away on a bench grinder until they suited.) The only other problem you may have is lining up the holes on the brackets to those on your new speakers. A few people (like AlexCim, IIRC) have made brackets out of MDF.

Nice write-up, Jarrad! I've added a link to this in the Stagea DIY section!

Both of these cars are hot!!!

IN the river, or near the river?

Spotted RB-1337, R32 GTR on Parramatta Rd last night (as in Saturday), heading city bound. Looked really nice - clean as with gold BBS (or similar) rims.

Ali G voice: "Ain't that a bit racialist?" /Ali G voice

Davis Rd, Wetherill Park was where I used to go to watch. Never raced there because I never had anything worth racing (and wouldn't have anyway, I value my licence too much).

Absolutely, but as long as you're remembering to factor in ALL the costs. I've never done it, because I'm the third Aussie owner of my car, but I'd assume that there are a lot of hidden costs in getting compliancing sorted. I haven't been to Nathan, but have heard nothing but good things about him from a number of people on SAU.

I think having a few cups is a good thing. They're handy if you're doing something like changing a gearbox. My old man's got a "cup" that's pretty much a flat piece of metal that is pretty handy at keeping a gearbox steady (assuming the bottom of the box is kinda flat).

Other than the 260RS, I think it was only the RS-Four S that had HICAS (and an LSD too, IIRC).

Yeah, I was gonna say the same thing. The holes for installing your stereo, etc. into the metal bracket are in the middle of the unit, but the holes for the climate control are at the bottom of the unit, so if you used those then the climate control would probably sit half-way up a DIN slot, leaving a half-DIN gap above and below the climate control unit.

I'm not bagging him, all I'm asking is that he use some sentence structure. It DOESN'T have to be perfect, I don't care if he (or anyone) uses lower case letters everywhere, but something as simple as a full stop added in at the end of each sentence helps a lot.

AFAIK, the M35 never came in manual, so you won't really have a choice there, unfortunately. The older Stagea is actually the C34, and I'm sure most people will tell you that if you want RB26DETT power, then you should probably save yourself a lot of hassle and just buy an Autech 260RS. The R34-style front end conversion has been tackled a few times now here in Australia, but don't forget to factor in the cost of a new radiator support, bumper reinforcement bar (commonly referred to as the "reo"), and various other bits and pieces over the usual bonnet, guards, lights, grill, bumper, etc. The best person to contact if you want to go this route is Darrin. As for the interior looking dated, that's a matter of opinion, and to some extent I agree. However, everything is exactly where it should be when you need it, which is important, and there are a lot of little features and creature comforts which, once you're used to, you'll wonder how you ever did without them! Simple things like the handles in the cargo area which flip the rear seats forward, the bonnet struts so the rod doesn't get in the way when you're working in the engine bay, etc.

I *might* be pulling my dash apart again to connect (at least some of) my gauges, so I'll see if there are any plugs in there that look like that. I wish I had a laptop so I could take it out to the garage, it would make it quite a bit easier. Saves me running all the way through the house back to my room, then out again to the car.

Spotted a white R34 GTt parked at Castle Towers in the area above the old cinemas and food court.

Dude, not to be rude, but can you please use some sentence structure. Maybe throw in a full stop here and there so we can actually figure out what you are saying.

The sad fact is that they will most likely never introduce a proper driver training scheme because it will COST THE GOVERNMENT MONEY. And, despite evidence of various proper driver-education schemes having a positive effect overseas, they refuse to accept that it could work here. They seem to think that it will encourage people to drive even faster and take more risks than they already do. Seriously, at least if those few idiots still chose to make tools of themselves (and there WILL be some, let's not pretend there won't), they'd be better prepared to find their way out of a potentially fatal situation and/or lessen the risks to themselves and other road users. Maybe we should get some stickers made up along those lines, maybe even take and modify ANDRA's slogan: "Street racing is not PROPER racing."