JimX

Gerds, definitely. In fact I'm going to one day fully seal everything up properly with some foam or something so that I don't get wisps of hot air wafting in. Won't make as much of a difference as the box/lid itself, but every bit helps. But gotta get the car back from the smash repairers first *sigh*

Thanks for the info I'll give them a call next week unless I can find someone a bit closer who can get me the respray. I *think* I might have found a place that will get me the respray but they need to get the assessor in first.

Can someone recommend a good smash repairer in Sydney who's good with Skylines? The more expensive the better. I got rear-ended last night My main concern after the physical damage is that the paint on the repair is not going to match, does anyone know of a smash repairer somewhere that will be able to convince the insurance companies that I need a full respray in order to match the paint? I'm guessing that this will be a bit easier to obtain than if I were at fault, because as my insurance broker said, I'm the innocent victiim here it's up to me to be satisfied with the job. And I want a full respray dammit! If a full respray is achievable at all it will be under these circumstances. I'm definitely not at fault, I had been stationary for a good 5-10 seconds at a set of lights before the stupid ute ran up my arse, and he's with a different insurance company so I'm not likely to be screwed around with by my own. Any helpful advice is welcomed! Thanks in advance.

235/45 is a closer match in height to 255/40 than 235/40 to 255/40. Here's what the profile height of each of the aforementioned will be: 235/40: 94 235/45: 105.75 255/40: 102 255/45: 114.75 So if you kept the same 40 profile front to rear, the rear tyre diameter is 8mm bigger than the front as opposed to about 4mm smaller if you got 45 for the front. I guess it's not much difference either way, but for that reason it's fine do choose either profile combination. Personally I would get whatever size made the speedo most accurate (ie closest to stock) and then get the profile on the front that was the closest in size to the rear.

I've got Bilstein shocks in mine. It did have the factory suspension when I got it but it was totally worn out so I can't really compare the ride qualities. The steering wheel would shudder like a bastard everytime I hit a decent bump with both front wheels at the same time. I've heard that the Japanese sports suspension (Cusco/JIC/Tein etc) are all really hard and not very comfortable for Australian roads. And unless the road is really smooth you'll be airborne a lot of the time anyway with ultra-hard suspension. I was originally after Koni adjustables but apparently they don't do a kit for Skylines yet. For tyres I would probably go Nankang, that's what I have on the front and they seem to be a bit harder than my rear Toyo's (much less tyre dust) but seem to grip just as good. When my rears wear out I'll try Nankangs on the back too. I don't know much about Falkens because they have so many different models, but I do know that the low-end hard model that most people put on their Skylines to compliance them are pretty crap. Go for something a bit softer.

I have exactly the tyre/wheel sizes that you want to upgrade to, and I only have 2 problems - 1 is the guards are too narrow on the front, I need to get them rolled or something (or buy GTR guards ) and 2 the rear tyres are so soft they shred and leave black tyre dust all over the back of my car. Well that's not related to the size at all but I thought I'd mention it anyway I don't have any problems with comfort, handling or traction with this setup. I'd say a lot of that would have to do with your shock absorbers and sway bars anyway.

Boxhead, can you let us know how much the mechanic charged extra for changing the plugs? I wanna know if it's worth the effort of doing it myself

Picked up the JVC head unit for $390 last night and some Pioneer splits (225W) which I forget the model of, but they were listed at $320 and I got them for $260. So I saved $200 off retail, not a bad night's shopping!

| hype^ |, no. But I have an electronic boost controller with a digital readout, and a dial to set it from the dash instead of the engine bay. Sure I would use my Autometer gauge to set the boost if I had to use the bleed valve but I don't think I'd leave it in there permanently. It was certainly in the most ridiculous spot when I got the car on top of the steering column, if I put it back it's going on the A-pillar. Just over half on the factory gauge is about 0.6-0.7 bar I'm guessing. Exactly halfway *should* be around 0.5 bar (7psi), but it could just be a margin of error in the boost gauge.

Damn, just a bit too late to look for the Boston Acoustics I got some Pioneer TS-D160R's tonight with my JVC head unit. Got a pretty good price for both items, $390 for the head unit (RRP $539) and $260 for the speakers (RRP $320). Going to run the speakers off my old subwoofer amp (it's about 300W I think).

Yeah as Jay95R33 said the factory gauge isn't in psi, it's in 100x mm of Mercury, and 7 of those I thought was around 1.5 bar but after double-checking the formula it's actually around 1 bar (13.535746 psi to be almost precise). So at max boost I must be getting a bit over halfway on my gauge. Anyway even at 1 bar it's good enough for me for the time being. Jay95R33, I agree it's pretty slow to change, but I've also got my digital readout on the Greddy boost controller which is pretty much instantaneous. I dunno, I think I will take the one I removed from my steering column and mount it on the A-pillar one day, but for the time being I don't see it as an essential item. I definitely wouldn't use the factory gauge to set anything up to precision, but I think for general driving it's good enough. As long as you're running 1 bar or less

Ah ok. Well eproms are cheap, unless they use some weirdarsed non-standard version. I could do the soldering myself as long as I had all the right bits. So that would leave the majority of the cost down to the reprogramming itself.

I have one serious question, please excuse my ignorance and give me a constructive answer if one is needed Why do most of us want/need an aftermarket boost gauge? The factory item goes up to 1.5 bar, and I and probably most others don't plan to run much more than 1 bar without some serious engine mods, so why do so many people want aftermarket gauges? I had one on my car when I got it, but it was half-blocking the tacho and I found myself bouncing off the redline way too often because I couldn't see it! So I took it out, plugged up the extra vacuum line hole and have been using the dash one and the digital readout on the boost controller ever since. They both match up almost perfectly too. At 0.8 bar on the Greddy box, reading about halfway to 7 on the dash gauge. JimX.

Does the GTR have the same ECU as a GTS-t? Shipping the whole car off to Japan isn't really an option though

Ah, so that's why people buy R32 ECU's and get them remapped then. Where could I get an R32 ECU from and how much roughly? I'm guessing then that things like the S-AFC are only around due to the R33 not being able to be remapped.

I paid about $90 for my Apexi pod. Well, about $110 when you include shipping from Japan. A mesh or paper filter never needs to be re-oiled, foam ones need to be cleaned and re-oiled fairly often. If I didn't get the Apex paper filter I think I would get a Blitz mesh or a HKS foam one in 2nd and 3rd preference respectively. The HKS pods flow really well but I don't think they're very good at stopping dust.

Is it easy and/or inexpensive to get the factory ECU remapped to suit a couple of mods? (air pod, bigger turbo, more boost, etc). If so, would there be any use of installing an S-AFC? I know it's better to get a fully programmable ECU like Power FC, but depending on the cost it might be cheaper to re-program the stock unit.

I used to absolutely HATE the look of the 4 door. To me it didn't even seem like the same car except for the front. But the more I looked at it, the more I liked it and now it definitely looks like a 4 door version of the same car all over. I actually really like the look of them now. If I wanted a smallish turbo sedan, I would definitely get a 4 door Skyline. I kinda miss being able to carry 3 friends plus all our computers and monitors in the Commodore, but I don't miss it enough to need a 4 door yet Getting a 21" monitor into the back seat of a coupe is an absolute biatch though!

Hippy, I don't have sideskirts, but they'd get wasted on my stupid driveway anyway. I do have the m-spec spoiler though.

Trying to keep it below $250 or so. My previous Sony Xplod's in my last car were utter crap.

Wow, that's the exact head unit I'm getting tomorrow, they're pretty popular! Go to JB Hifi if you can, their price is only $490, but you can haggle them down to low $400's if you pay cash. I'm going in tomorrow with a couple of other people and we're hoping to get an even $400 or less

Haha that's funny. Oh well I'm glad I'm not the only one!

I'm getting a JVC mp3 head unit tomorrow (SX-KD985), but don't know what speakers to get for it. I'm thinking Pioneer 6" splits for now, and I'll fill in the rear parcel shelf later (it had some 5x7" Kenwoods which didn't fit properly and weren't bolted down so I took them out). Can anyone suggest a good model of speaker to suit an R33? Series 1 if the extra velour has any effect on the sound I want a strong loud bass without distortion, I'll probably look at running a separate amp before too long. I'm trying to avoid the need for a subwoofer because I need all the boot space I can get.

I had a similar problem. Car would sometimes stall but not often, but it would almost always take a long time to kick over initially and then run really rough for the first minute or 2. I reset the ECU, and problem was instantly solved! I also gained an extra 50km or so per tank and it had more power. Don't know if it will help you, but worth a try if you haven't done it already. I just wish I didn't wait a whole month before resetting the ECU, I feel like I've wasted so much fuel

I found them under that panel on top of the engine too, but the panel is a biatch to get off without taking all the stuff above it off first. I basically unscrewed it but couldn't get the panel out because of everything else in the way. Is there a quick way to get at the plugs or do I really have to take all the plenum hoses and stuff off first? This is going to be a big job just to *check* the condition of my plugs.