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The only concern I have is the apparently common problem with RB25's starting up and chugging at very low rpms, or even dying out, unless you blip the throttle. I dont really trust that there is enough oil pressure at 500 rpm....

If you live in a city then a mobile thread repairer should be able to come out to your house and remove the broken studs. You should really torque the gasket up once, hopefully it will still make a good seal when you fix the threads. If you get a kit like this, it will have everything you need. http://www.kudosmotorsports.com/catalog/nissan-exhaust-manifold-stud-kit-genuine-nissan-nissan-skyline-r32-gts-gts25-gts4-gtst-r33-gts25-gts25t-gts4-r34-20gt-25gt-25gt4-25gtt-gtv-p-193.html The lesson here is patience, you could have done the work once.

The intake would have been machined, but much more obvious would be the machining on the exhaust side.

What happened to that type6 guy saying he cracked the s1 c34 stagea ecu?

Can you explain how the shift kit was "mauled"? Do you mean the modded valve body, and what happened to it?

I looked at that option because I just wanted to modify the points at which the torque converter locks up, but its a very pricey solution just to tinker with a few variables. In fact its a point which has been bugging me. When I spoke to MV automatics, they stated that the TCC is only meant to take 30-40hp for cruising, yet I find it will lock up under heavy acceleration in 2nd and 3rd. However it unlocks very easily in overdrive, and wont initially lock up above maybe %15 throttle, unless you're going over 110kph. A minor thing, but still annoying.

Sounds like you should check your control arms and bushings if there is uneven wear. No point prematurely wearing through new tyres before its fixed.

Giving police and government an off switch for your car is a wrong thing to do.

Tyres are an obvious start, but other suspension components like shocks should be inspected. Worn bouncy shock absorbers will negatively affect front grip.

Noone?

Replaced dust boots on the front shocks....a lot of screwing around for 2 minor items. But the boots that came with these shocks were a joke. A fair bit of dirt and debris made its way onto the piston area.

I use an ECUtalk consult which is about $100 on ebay. There are cheaper ones though I can't comment on their quality. You plug the consult connector in the consult port near the fuses on the drivers side, you plug the USB into a windows laptop. Theres a few freeware programs which can then read the consult port as a COM port. Apart from reading codes and realtime sensor info, you can create a log which writes all the selected sensors into a table format about 30 times per second. More info here: http://www.ecutalk.com/interface.aspx

Just removed and reinstalled my front shocks, though Ive forgotten whether the lower strut mount needs to be tightened while the wheels are lifted off the ground, or sitting at normal height under the cars weight. Or whether the strut eyelet doesn't move in relation to the lower mount when the suspension travels...

If you have a consult cable, or feel like buying one of ebay, you would be able to create a log of all available sensors while you start the car and let it run (or die out). That should give some useful info as to what is going on.

Check if they even have shims. I had to swap the shims over from my previous pads.

Id like to see that. I've seen a video of a manualised skyline where the driver appeared to flip a switch to engage 4th gear. Looked really awkward and inconvenient for driving on the street. I was under the impression that a manualised valve body still only had 3 positions for forward gears, meaning OD had to be an alternate control. I guess you also lose things like the lockup converter (unless you have manual control), and variable line pressure (runs full pressure all the time?).

Steering joints? As in inner or outer tie rods? They're not too hard to do, though it can take some patience and some ingenuity to pop the outer tie rod tapered pin out of the knuckle. I use outer tie rods which I purchased off ebay from a taiwanese seller. They were cheap and they've been fine. I purchased some GTR inner tie rods from supercheap auto. They needed to be trimmed by about 1.5 cm on the threaded ends. This leaves the maximum amount of thread in the outer tie rod. Some tie rods on the market are generalised between gtr/gtst/stagea etc. Dont use inner tie rods which are too short otherwise you risk them stripping out and causing a major accident.

The exa was like a block of cheese or a doorstop, depending on what angle you looked at it from.

So R&T did a test with 3 higher powered vehicles and a mix of cheaper alternatives. Doesn't mean they were being presented as equal cars. I always liked the styling though. Was much nicer than the previous generations of styling in the forms of the exa turbo and pulsar ET turbo.

Were the studs replaced when the gaskets were replaced?

Modding isn't necessarily a frivolous affair. When things like shocks get worn, they can be replaced with aftermarket units. As per above, shift kits help greatly in the speed of the auto box. With the stagea, a turbo replacement is a definite possibility in your time owning one, then you'll probably be looking at a modified replacement turbo.

Ryco has some platinum range oil filters down at supercheap on sale. The package seems to suggest it filters to 20 micron, and has a recommended change interval of 5000km. It was around $14. Never used them before, but I picked up one for my next oil change.

*** However, I should add that I did not agree with everything on the comprehensive list. I also made more cost effective repairs eg, the workshop wanted to replace the entire strut and spring assembly just to replace the shock. I replaced the shocks myself. I guess my experience was almost the opposite. I knew something (or several things) was wrong in the suspension and pedders didn't pick up on them. - as opposed to workshops usually racking up unnecessary repairs.

Just my 2c, when I had a pedders 28 point inspection, they missed everything wrong with the suspension. When I paid $120 for a reputable workshop to do an inspection they came up with a very very thorough list (also more than the suspension). Most opinions on pedders are about as flattering.

It is a wagon after all, and is built with a large empty box at the back. On my old worn set of tyres, getting down to a quarter tank of fuel was like an arcade drift game...