JimX

I ran over a suicidal possum last year. I was driving home and I saw it sitting in the middle of the road. I was cruising by at about 40kph (10kph under the limit) and sort of went to the left side of the lane thinking it'd be cool because it was just sitting there. The *exactly* at the point which it was too late to swerve or brake, even if I was slowing down at the time, the possum wandered straight under my tyres! It didn't even run, it was sort of a couple of steps and then thud-thud of front and rear tyres. Oddly enough, no blood or guts or fur or anything under the car. The next day I drove past and it had already been cleaned up by the council. Poor possum

I believe you, especially if it happened to your car. But it's just the first I've heard of it.

That really sucks. It could have been worse though, in the news last year there was a guy in an R31 Skyline that swerved to miss a dog, and he ended up mounting the gutter and somehow nose-diving the car into the ground and went roof-on into a telephone pole, which killed him instantly. Good luck with fighting the neg driving, there is no justice in the world. The guy that rear-ended me while I was stopped at the lights and gave me whiplash got off with only paying his insurance excess, the cops didn't wanna know about it. And you've hurt nothing but your own car and you may get a fine and loss of points and don't even have insurance to claim on. The system sucks.

Fair enough if that's what happens on GTRs, it's the first I've heard of it. But if the engine is running smoothly with no smoke, it must be the 1 in 10 that it didn't happen on surely?

I'm only considering it because I've got an exhaust cam wheel, and will be running 15 psi after the tune. I used to run 15psi with the factory ECU, but the PowerFC at the same boost maxes out my injectors and AFM. So I'm running at 11psi until I get it tuned. Anyway I'll see what the mechanic has to say when I take the car in. At least now I know I have some room to experiment.

Ah good stuff. Might bump it up to 8000 then.

Is it safe to take the redline up to 7500rpm or so? With stock internals, and a PowerFC. I've got an adjustable exhaust cam gear so that should help with any breathing problems, but I'm also worried about affecting the longevity of the engine.

Aside from the fact that this is entirely incorrect as Gav pointed out, just how could the engine still be running smoothly if everything had been destroyed? I wish people would think before posting, even if they don't know what they're talking about.

I know a guy who used to own an R32, and his mechanic told him that the even-numbered Skylines were the better, refined versions, and the odd numbered versions were the crappy prototypes (like Holden/Ford Series 1/2). He also said that the RB20 engine (even number) was better than the RB25 (odd number), so the R32 was still better than the R34. And this guy believed all this 100%. I shit you not! So if there were enough people like this around, that could explain why R32's are overpriced Seriously though, I think it's just that the R32's are rarer and there seem to be a disproportionate number of people that like R32's more than R33's. So given a smaller number of cars available for the former, that drives the price up.

I'm confused. Why did my existing pod bolt directly onto my factory AFM without an adapter plate? What adapter plate do I need exactly for the Q45 AFM?

Do you have experience with this or are you just reading the description? I did read the description and it wasn't clear where the adapter actually went, and I couldn't even find the adapter on the list. Jason has since replied to my email and said this: The part that you have mentioned is the correct replacment filter for the Q45 Infinity. The notes mean that the part is designed to be a replacement filter for the Q45 kit which comes with parts for specifically fitting it to that vehicle. So it seems you need an adapter to attach the pod to the vehicle, not the AFM. Since I've already got a custom air box to hold it in place, I don't seem to need an adapter. Jason only quoted me for the pod anyway so I'll get it alone and see how I go.

Does anyone know what model number Apexi pod if any will fit onto a 90mm Q45 AFM? I found one on Greenline that has an 85mm outlet, which I presume is the same inside diameter of the Q45 AFM. Does anyone know if it will bolt straight on or if I need some sort of adapter? Here is link for the Apexi intakes at Greenline. Specifically, I'm hoping that the "Power Intake 160-85B Replacement Element" will bolt straight on.

Oil is supposed to go dark as it absorbs soot created in the combustion chambers. Personally I haven't noticed any difference in colour in any oil that I've drained over the years. It's always been black in the drip tray (the drip tray is also black so that might influence the colour I see), but on the dipstick you can see that it's still golden brown at the edges. I've never been able to tell if one type of oil is better than another based on how quickly it turns black.

I already offered a pretty big opinion further up. It seems that most people that have problems with iridiums are either because of the 1.1 gap, or when they have tried to manuall re-gap them. The electrodes are very fragile, it's entirely possible that re-gapping them, especially by 0.3mm will cause some unseen damage and make it not work properly. I reiterate - I am running 0.8mm factory gapped NGK iridiums (I forget the precise model number or heat range) and I have never ever had a single spark related issue other than cold cranking sometimes (but this is a common unrelated fault, which I rectified with the PowerFC cold cranking settings). I absolutely swear by them, using them in both car and bike. The bike's copper plugs would need to be changed ever 3000km or it would start to burp and fart and lose economy. So far done 20000km on iridiums and the only running issues I get now are to dodgy fuel (i use 95 premium on the bike, which has quality problems in many servos, until I get it tuned for 98RON). Power/economy/starting ease has not dropped one iota in all this time. I would have gotten platinums for the similar longevity but the iridium spark is stronger. Maybe the coppers do give you a few more kw when new (I've not seen dyno comparisons yet though, so the difference is likely to be very small if any). But let's run them both in 2 different cars for 50000km and see which car is still running just as well as it was 50000km ago. I don't think the coppers would still be in one piece by that stage. I have a front facing plenum which allows me to get to the plugs without undoing a lot of intake plumbing, and yet I *still* find it a pain in the arse to change the plugs. I set aside around half an hour. At weekend rates that would cost me around $70. (considering I could do overtime and get double time Sunday). Yeah it'd be far less than half an hour if I rushed it, but I then usually end up forgetting something fundamental and having to backtrack and fix it.

Copper plugs are more likely to melt (lower melting temp, at least one guy in here has melted his copper plugs), and you have to change them every 5000km for optimal performance. Aside from it being a total pain in the arse to do this every 5000km, after 4 changes (20000km) the coppers become less cost effective. If you count labour time as money (even if you're doing it yourself) they're probably less cost effective after the first change. I've had my iridiums for over 30000km now and it still fires as good as the day I put them in. The reason people usually have problems with iridiums is because of the gap, not the material it's made from. Edit: Anyone buying iridiums I would advise to get the 0.8mm gap version. I got these by pure coincidence (I got them before I knew what gap they should be or even that there were 2 differently gapped versions) and on a normal tune/boost (150rwkw) it still ran fine. Probably suffered a little bit of economy and power, but nothing noticable over the previous platinums I had and it still ran just as smoothly. Now at 215rwkw it still runs just as smooth and without any detonation and I haven't touched the plugs. Getting 0.8's gives you the scope to up the boost and power at a later date without worrying about detonation. Taking them out to re-gap them is a pain in the arse and you are likely to damage them.

Worn synchros. I used Redline oil to reduce it, but now it's slowly getting worse again. But still not anywhere near as bad as when I got the car, maybe 30-40% of the time now instead of 100% of the time when I got it. It's been 30000km since I changed it, so I will soon drain the oil and put in VMX80 plus an additive. I have been warned that it's bad to go from a synthetic oil back to a mineral oil as I think VMX80 is, so I'm going to change the oil to VMX, drive slowly around the block a few times, then change it again with a fresh bottle and add the additive. Should be a good enough flush.

No hydrogen in the boot of an R33, the battery is sealed. That's why you don't hear of R33's (and any car with the battery in the boot) exploding all over the place.

Already emailed Nengun Just waiting for price&availability. B-Man, I pulled my old pod off to see if it was easily modified, and I gave up I'd give it a go if these things were worth a couple of hundred bucks, but this one cost me around $90 delivered. As long as the new one is around the same price I'll just keep the old pod/afm as spares.

Well, in that case I need any old 90mm filter Where do I get one from? The reason I asked about the Apexi pod is I currently have an 80mm one on my factory AFM and I quite like it. Or will the normal Apexi pod fit? Or can I get an adapter if not?

Prefer the Apexi dual funnel filter, but depends on price and availability of other pods I guess.

What's wrong with S-AFC? It may not have as many features, but it's still an option.

There are usually some in the For Sale forums. Btw, the 044 is LOUD when used externally. You might want to have a listen to someone else's setup before you do the same.

I used Castrol Formula R, both 5W-30 and 10W-60 for around 15000km. After that I switched to Motul 8100, and ended up with a really dirty exhaust (evident on my rear bar) and a blocked/collapsed lifter requiring a full engine flush. You could say that the 8100 was to blame here, but really it was the Castrol and whatever crap oil the previous owners had used. The Castrol should have at least done a semi-decent job of cleaning out the engine internals but it either did nothing or added to the buildup of scum. So when I put the high detergent 8100 in, it caused all the sludge to come loose and block a lifter. Ran one sumpful of Fuchs after that, and I'm now back to 8100 and the exhaust is much much cleaner. I don't expect anything to become blocked again.

Why exactly?

I can vouch for the steering wheel, it is in near mint condition. If I didn't have an air bag wheel I would have bought it.