GoldZilla

Scary situation, no doubt! As long as you, the wife and your kid are all okay, that's the main thing... Good to hear you've got the right attitude to tyres as well, so many people put so little thought into this. Good to hear you're all okay, and best of luck.

Certainly is... You can hear the thing from miles away: "Waaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..." Goes like a cut snake, too, from what I witnessed today!

Looks like we'll all be posting very similar pics, but that's fine... Aaaaaaargh!!! Beware the Hulk!

Me too. Photos uploaded to PC, will transfer them soon...

Here here... I'm totally with you on this one. Little Johnny has (I think falsely) led us into believing that our economy is doing better, simply to bring us unstuck again with rising fuel prices, but no relaxing of taxes. Dammit, the way it is now we pay taxes ON OUR TAXES!

If you can find someone with a vinyl press, maybe me or MAR55S (or whoever - I know there were a few DJss or ex-DJs here on SAU) can try it in a club one night - you never know what reaction it might get. Failing finding a vinyl press, can you transfer to 8-track or reel-to-reel?

:werd: All that "Gangsta Rap" was done properly in the late '80s and early '90s by the originators (NWA and the like). 50c, Eminem and all the rest have no hope of living up to the standards set back then. Even those originators knew it was time to eventually move on and put more thought into their lyrics as their careers and popularity advanced. Every 50 Cent song sounds exactly the same as his other ones, and every Eminem song sounds like another whinge.

Doesn't always work, but often helps: spray heaps of WD40, RP7 or some similar water-displacing stuff some time before you start, then a little bit more just as you begin. Helps ease the stranglehold of the rust making the nuts stick to the studs...

Awesome info Brad! Now to find out how to properly and effectively hardwire the ATTESSA - I can't remember if the info is yet to be posted, or if I've read it and just not understood or am able to recall how it's done... At least once that's sorted then we'll all be one step closer to the Power FC/RB25/Stagea solution that Mercury find it so secretive to give us... (Does that make sense? I'm feeling really vague today.)

My old man says he's seen that red one with plates STA63A "a couple of weeks ago," not sure where though - somewhere in Blacktown.

MAR55S, if you and your crew play mostly underground stuff, rather than the commercial crap you'd be able to hear on the radio, then I may come along to some of your parties, gigs, etc. The problem I find with most RnB/Rap nightclubs here is that they all play the same stuff, and you often hear the same song played by three different DJ's on the same night... What I love about a house or breaks gig is that I can (and often have) hear 50-75% of music that I've never heard before, and still be able to have an awesome night... BTW MAR55S, do you and the rest of the group do any Electronica-based nights?

Architecture in Helsinki; Chemical Brothers; anything Kid Kenobi does; Wolfmother (I was thinking the same thing - so '80s power rock, but everything that's RIGHT about it); Pendulum, and all other Aussie D&B, House, Electro, etc. artists = Agreed!!! I've also got stuff like Incubus, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, Jeff Buckley (why did he die so soon - he'd barely reached his potential), Plant Life, Breakestra, RHCP, in my collection. Yeah, most new RnB sucks, as does most Hip Hop, unless you go digging for the proper underground stuff. As far as that's concerned, there's J-5, the OkayPlayer clan (The Roots, Common, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Jill Scott, Angie Stone, Jean Grae, D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, Dilated Peoples, Blackalicious, etc.) the old Native Tongues collective (A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Jungle Brothers, Busta, etc.), Kanye West, KRS-One, blah blah blah... Fcking hate the 50 Cents, Eminems, etc of the current age... All thrills, no skills! Hate trance, hardcore, hard house, and all the happy hard/nrg stuff. LOVE house and breaks, and have a decent (but ageing) vinyl collection myself. I hope, as far as my taste is concerned, that Triple J will never suck - it's pretty much all the radio I listen to. Podcasts? http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/listen/podcast.htm

Unfortunate, but hopefully we'll be able to organise another (bigger) one in the not too distant future again...

I was somewhat confused by the interior as well, the seats seem to have roughly the right shape, but wrong trim. What caught my eye most, though, was the lower-spec (X- or G-spec, according to the Nissan archives site) front grill, with the horizontal bars, rather than the egg-crate mesh style grill of RS-spec cars.

I've got the mudflaps on my car too, and they really don't look too bad in my opinion. (Don't shoot me for this either!!!) As for standard features and common options, have a look at the Stagea Buyer's Guide thread. If you find some features in your car that are not shown in this thread, let me know so I can update it for the benefit of all. There's also Nissan's own archived site with a fair bit of info, which I managed to scrape some info from using a BabelFish-style translator.

PM replied...

Cy, I was warned about this by Alan when he told me about the whole conversion process when I went to look at the car to buy off him. He said that a lot of people do not make allowances for the amount of pressure the handbrake mechanism puts on that area of the chassis. He's done a few of these conversions (as you may remember from the manual conversion thread), and was quite willing to rip the centre console off the car to prove that he'd done the suitable strengthening - his confidence in his work (and the fact that he'd done a few of these conversions while living in Japan) was enough for me and my old man... I'd suggest seeing if you can strengthen the area properly with welded in plates. If necessary, I can take photos for you to see for yourself and compare. PM me if this is what you'd like me to do...

Yeah, come along - the more the merrier!

GOLD!!!

You KNOW you wanna keep it, Christian. Go get it from John and come on our cruise this Saturday... (Details in my Sig.) Nick

Good to hear. Personally, the only aftermarket BOV I would buy is the one that does make that fluttering noise, rather than the "Ksschhhh" noise (if you get what I mean)... If that's what puts a kick in your step, then why not? It won't add to performance, as we all know, but if it's what helps you enjoy your car that little bit more, then go for it.

Can't hear mine, as far as I can remember. Then again, the exhaust is too f*cking loud to hear anything over - seriously considering putting a (another?) silencer/resonator in as soon as I can scrape some cash together.

Yeah, what Tosh said: Quality > Quantity. Just because it's a wider tyre, doesn't mean it will give you better traction. Tyres are definitely THE most important area in which you SHOULD NOT skimp when you make a purchase - ALWAYS buy the best tyres you can afford... No matter how good your own driving skill, your car's LSD, suspension, brakes and driveline are, they are nothing when those four little contact patches at each corner of your car are the weakest link in the chain!

As mentioned, final details and directions for the cruise are here: Sydney-siders to meet at the Caltex/Hungry Jacks/Red Rooster complex on the corner of Abbott Rd and Foundry Rd in Seven Hills. Be there at 10.30am for an 11am departure. Cruise route from the F3 is very easy, and I have attached maps for the convenience of all... From the Sparks Rd turn-off, just keep following it straight through as it becomes Wallarah Rd, then Main Rd once you've crossed the bridge splitting Budgewoi Lake and Tuggerah Lake. Continue down through Noraville, and once you pass St Mary's Catholic school and the church attached to it, you will come up to a roundabout. Turn right at this roundabout into Wilfred Barrett Dr, take your first left into Bungary Rd, then your third right into Soldiers Point Dr. Along this narrow stretch, you will find another small roundabout, turn left and it will then lead you directly down to our meeting spot. Sparks Rd turnoff from the F3 (ref C12 from Sydney, and E13 from Newcastle): Continuing down Sparks Rd, where it becomes Wallarah Rd (map 39, ref K1 to map 40, ref Q7: Following Wallarah Rd over the bridge, where it becomes Main Rd (ref A7 to L11): Onwards past the bridge and down to the roundabout at Wilfred Barrett Drive (ref L13), and turning left into Bungary Rd (ref L14): Turn right into Soldiers Point Dr (ref M1) and follow it down... (ref P6):

Woohoo, that's me in the Stagea! I was beeped at also this evening by someone in a clean-looking wine-red R33 (at least I think it was me they were beeping at). I was in the KFC @ Seven Hills going through the drive-thru, and the '33 was heading up Best Road heading towards Seven Hills station...