JimX

These things seem to be majorly expensive for some bent sheet metal and hinges. I was wondering if there are cheaper options to prevent oil starvation or if we are destined to pay the $500 to $1000+ asking prices. I remember awhile back someone linked to some American gadget which was a big pressurised cylinder, and when it detected pressure drop in the sump, it injected more oil into the line until pressure was restored. I think these were still fairly expensive though (US$200?) What about the option of building your own? If someone had a set of plans for a sump baffle, I am guessing it wouldn't cost more than $100 in materials to build (unless I'm way off). Has anyone built their own, and if so would they be willing to share the plans? Lastly, maybe there are some metal workshops that can build and sell them for a reasonable price. If they didn't *only* make sump baffles, then surely they wouldn't care about the limited customer base of these things and the fact that they are a one-off purchase. I imagine that most of the places that specialise in sump baffles realise that once you buy one, that car will never need another one again and so jack up the price.

Don't some RB20DET engines use high impedance injectors? They wouldn't be able to fit these without adding resistor packs.

Fark, not Broadway! That was the last shopping centre I took my car. What level were you on when it got broken into?

That's the first I've heard of a high pressure version of a Walbro. Maybe they copped a lot of flak for not being able to supply high pressure so they made new versions. If those figures are correct, then it may be worthwhile getting a high pressure Walbro. But try to find out from an independant source if they are telling the truth or not first.

One small bottle usually. Maybe buy 2, just in case you need a bit more. But don't open it if you don't need it.

How many of those cars were running 500hp though? At a guess I would say absolutely none. Steve (I think) did a big write up on the Walbro pump awhile ago, if he (or the true author I've forgotten) can remember where the original thread about it was, it would be an interesting read. My main concern with the Walbro pump is it doesn't like pressure too much, which would give plenty of concern if you wanted to fit a rising rate regulator. Even if you had a mildly modded Skyline of around 350-400hp, you would likely be on the edge of the Walbro's limits. If you decide to get one then be careful. One (unnamed) Sydney workshop tried to sell me a Walbro at full retail price ($400) and offered to buy my unused 044 from me for less than his trade price ($200 or something?!). The reason being he said that my car wouldn't need the extra pumping capacity of the 044, and I would save around an hour's labour plus some money on extra fittings needed for the 044. So I was going to pay around $300 for the "privilege" of "upgrading" my 044 to a Walbro. In the end I'm glad I did the research and found out what a gyp that would have been, and I fit the 044 myself for $60 worth of parts. A nice way to save $240. Edit: I realise that time is money and even though it took me around 4 hours to fit myself, my post-tax income for 4 hours is still far less than what I'd be shelling out to the workshop for 2 hours @$80/hour. And now that I know what I'm doing I can fit one now in far less than 4 hours.

I had a Redline filter in my car when I got it. When I replaced it soon after with the Apex pod I had a look at the Redline one and saw large visible holes in the mesh. Maybe about the size of a grain of sand? I'm just glad that my engine or turbo didn't suffer, but that'd be because the previous owner didn't go driving through any sand storms.

I don't think that's a very good test. Your engine sucks in probably 10000 times as much air than is required to lift a ping pong ball. Also, the test doesn't mean anything unless you have other filters to compare it with in the same environment. Who's to say that a standard paper filter isn't going to flow just as well at those low air speeds? Whatever the case, it would be interesting to see how filters other than the K&N one stack up in the ping pong ball test.

Copper has better heat sinking properties than aluminium so it's probably going to be a more effective radiator. But it has a fair bit of extra weight, and I imagine it's not nearly as corrosion-resistant, so I dunno. Either way, copper is more expensive than aluminium. Whether a better option or not, you got a more expensive radiator for your money.

Gtstii, I gather you are trying to decide whether you should go with the S-AFC or full engine management like a PowerFC? If so, don't use the engine knocking prevention as a reason to get the S-AFC. As long as you have some sort of knock warning, whether the inbuilt function of the PowerFC, or some third party item like the one from Jaycar, you should be ok in that regard. Have a look at my 2 attached dyno readouts. Both are S-AFC tunes done several months apart with different mods. The car had a T04 turbo (I think T3/4 hybrid, it has an internal wastegate) for both. With the first run it had a small front-mount intercooler. For the second run I had upgraded this to a better flowing fmic, and also changed to a front-facing plenum and installed a bigger fuel pump. For the first pre-mod run everything was fine. It's got a uniform 15rwkw or so extra across the board. The post-mod run however things went haywire. From about 5000rpm and up the power just died. It had a decent peak power but it really felt totally flat above 5000rpm which you can see in the readout. I had a few theories thrown around by different people, including compressor surge, bad AFM, bad plugs, and one or 2 other things. However I didn't think it was any of those, and after I installed my PowerFC I found that I was right. The flat spot is totally gone just by running the default PowerFC map. I haven't dyno'd it yet (hoping to get a tune done in February) but you can just feel that it's not there anymore. Power just builds and builds all the way to redline. This is not to say that the S-AFC is useless! Like my first dyno readout shows, with the mods I had previously it did a very good job. It's just that if the mods get a little radical, the stock ECU does not cope and no adjusting of the mixtures will help. It was probably retarding timing all over the place for reasons unknown to produce that power dip. With the PowerFC it just does what it's told and there are no problems. If you have the bucks I would definitely get the PowerFC or similar. If you go the S-AFC then you *may* be disappointed by the results. Not definitely, but maybe. It's just more of a risk performance-wise. (note: I am sure there are plenty of people running S-AFC's with more mods than mine with no problems! I am only speaking of my own experiences here). Of course if you are poor then the S-AFC is always going to be better than nothing. You can always sell it when you can afford the upgrade to a full ECU replacement.

The GTS-4 has the same box as a GTR. A popular mod is to do an RB26DETT conversion, with which you will end up with pretty much a GTR but with skinny guards (think sleeper). It's pretty costly though, so if money is a concern an RB25DET conversion might be better.

If you do the guards and the kit and don't hammer it off the line from every set of lights, how are they going to know it's not a GTR?

You could try dremeling a bit more out of the hinge to give it a bit more backwards adjustment. I had similar issues with lining up a rear door on my Commodore. I fiddled with it a lot and couldn't get it just right. In the end I gave up and put up with the line across the top not being straight across all the way along. I then went and looked at the other side where the original door was and it followed the same dodgy line! Ah, good old Holden workmanship.

Ben, why didn't you just get a box for the pod?

Some people do bother with the rears, and if you were going to do the fronts, you should definitely do the rears too. It will look absolutely retarded with a fat front and skinny-arsed rear. You basically have to cut and weld up the rear quarter sections from a GTR, and then fill and respray. I would add in the cost of a respray to this conversion. I've seen some of these conversions come through the Prestige Auto mailing list, it is worth the effort if you have the bucks. It has a lot more credibility than just sticking on a GTR wing and front bar. (not that I hate either of those things)

Justinfox, how long have you had them for? I have heard that they are very soft and don't last a long time, and cost like $200 a pair.

Do you drive down any long hills? Ok it's not so important especially if you have a manual box, but brake fade under normal driving conditions is something to consider. I dunno, I just never skimp on brake pads or fluid. Not when a full set of 4 pads is less than one tyre for me, and they last 3-4 times as long. Bendix Ultimates are the bare minimum pad I will accept, but I don't like them because of the amount of noise, dust, and disc wear they cause. Also don't forget about your brake fluid when replacing your brakes. Caltex GP600 is probably the best dot 4 fluid out there, surpassing many dot 5's in temperature tolerance, but with none of the drawbacks (eg, the sponginess you can get with silicone fluids).

Garrett makes HKS turbos. So if they save money on manufacturing I expect they would pass along at least some of these savings to HKS (and any other big customers of theirs). It's not like they'd be charging HKS anywhere near full retail price for their turbos anyway.

I would do as Ben says and get yourself a pair of RB74's. They crap all over any Bendix pad you care to mention. They cost more but are worth every cent. Less noise, less dust, and better temperature tolerance than Bendix pads.

Well, I did mean the whole dash like Pred thought, but now that you mention it I did also want to know how the instrument cluster came out So thanks for that anyway!

Has anyone got a step-by-step on how to remove the dash? (in an R33 preferably). If not, can anyone give a quick overview, plus what to look out for?

The same as the RB25DET, or around 210rwkw.

The fronts should be no problem. But have a look at the rear of either car again and tell me if you think you can just bolt them on

My understanding was that blue=NA, red=turbo. To all you guys with turbo cars and blue badges, did you buy the cars new?

NSW has more than a 3kph speed limit tolerance unlike a certain other southern state The rego inspection (for me, and many others with friendly mechanics) consists of the mechanic checking the odometer, then printing out the brake report and handing over the form. I've also no idea where you got that .02 BAC thing from, it's .05.