JimX

^^ Wot he said.

To everyone that thinks that 4th gives you a 1:1 ratio - is your diff a 1:1 ratio diff as well? There is actually little point in dyno'ing in 4th gear other than to show how well it pulls in...well, 4th gear. First and second usually aren't very useful because you can't even get full boost in 1st, and 2nd is still making the power curve a little too short to be useful. Third gear is most popular for a lot of Jap imports with speed cut, because in 4th it can run into the speed cut. Peak power should be roughly the same in any gear. It is fatter in lower gears though, which can be a reason to do it in lower gears, ie to impress people. But for a real purpose of dyno'ing a car, ie to tune it for maximum power/efficiency, it doesn't really matter if it's in 3rd or 4th. If you've got no speed cut and a LOT of power, 4th can also be better because it'll be easier to keep traction. Edit: Everytime I see this thread title I get reminded of Homer Simpson!

An hour or so if just doing mixtures. More if also doing timing. Probably more than twice as long, I'm not sure.

Well the revs seemed to be holding at 850 or so, so I set the timing there. At first I thought it was 30 degrees according to the light, but then I remembered Raist's comment about most lights reading double. It was spot on the last mark (30 degrees on mine, I have 7 marks) and didn't fluctuate at all. Unlike every other car I've had! I think when my idle was screwy the timing was 20 degrees, it might have been related to that. Now it seems to slow down to around 950 then drop down to 850 after a few seconds.

Weakest link? I have 2 words. Velour Interior

Hmm, I can't see any harm in blocking it then. I've got the breather line coming out and through my catch can so in theory that should be enough. What's the purpose of this extra breather if the main one is always available for venting blow by?

Mine's pink. I always thought the 1.5 had the series 2 engine and AFM.

Noober question: Where's the PCV valve and what do you block it with? What are the other side effects?

So when I set the timing via a timing light to 15 degrees, what should the PowerFC be reading? 15 degrees also? And at what RPM should I set the idle timing? Mine has been fluctuating for awhile, it seems to go between 750 and 1000rpm, though these past few days it's been hovering at around 850.

I prefer the look of the 33 to the others, except for maybe an R34 GTR with all the kit. I'm actually glad so many people don't like the look of the 33, it makes me realise my choice of car wasn't dictated at all by popular opinion.

It could just be a relative thing. Like it will assume the timing is X degrees, and base all of its subsequent measurements off that. I'm not disagreeing with you, I too think that it gives you a proper reading. I'm just saying how it might not be.

Ok now I'm confused. One person says the PowerFC doesn't show timing, and another says that it does. Anyone else want to throw their vote in?

How does it figure out what it "should" be? I'll check it with the light tonight.

Thanks for the info guys. Ok here's another question - how accurate is PowerFC at gauging the timing? I notice that whatever it's set to, it tends to fluctuate upwards, up to 2 degrees or so. So even though it's at 15 at the moment, it occasionally spikes up to 16 or 17. This is all at idle of course. I'm going to check it with the timing light anyway soon, I'm just asking this in case my cheapass timing light doesn't work with the wire loop at the back of the engine (as many of them don't). Btw, I can't recall any difference in power when the timing was at 20 degrees (compared to the 15 it is now) after I put the CAS back on. Although maybe I just didn't hammer it hard enough, I don't know.

It looks like a 1.5 to me. Sewid's the expert on the differences between series 1 and 1.5/2 engine bays because he's compared them directly and made mental notes, maybe you could pm him and ask. I wouldn't pay more than $20k for a realtively stock '95 model. Probably considerably less. Btw I think it might be a Nismo grille. A friend of mine sold one awhile back and it looks pretty similar.

Change fuel mixture and ignition timing basically. There are other subtle things you can do depending on your ECU like temperature compensation etc but the main ones are fuel and timing. On your R32 they would reprogram the whole ECU for around $600, and you'd probably gain around 10-20rwkw.

Wow, professionally lowered! No wonder it costs $21k. Professionally lowered rather than backyard lowered probably increased its value by like $5k.

I haven't read that article but it sounds like a crock. The S-AFC will see a lower air flow and send less fuel through. How does it know to advance the timing? It thinks the car has less air going into it, and that's all. On my PowerFC, the ignition advances as revs (and therefore airflow) increase. If anything I would say it's not advancing the ignition enough! Whatever the case, the tuner should be able to tune the S-AFC without any detonation. I haven't heard of a single person that had detonation issues after getting their S-AFC properly tuned. I think the guy that wrote the Zoom article doesn't know what he's on about. Did he mention any alternatives maybe? Like some Aussie built ECU replacements? Sponsorship potentially at work here. You have an R32, forget the S-AFC anyway and just get your ECU remapped. Should cost around $600 or less.

EnricoPalazzo, $160 is the workshop labour price I was quoted (2 hours) from a workshop. GTS-t VSPEC, I don't know why the workshop would bother removing the timing belt unless they were going to change it. If you were going to pay for that, you may as well change the belt while it's all off, even if it's not yet due. Mine still looks brand new after 20k km

When you say "flared" do you mean they chopped the ends off and converted it to a 3" cat? Or they just made an adapter for it to fit the 3" exhaust? If it's the latter, then your exhaust is effectively the same size as it was before. Either way you should probably replace it with a new high flow cat. They can become blocked and restrictive with age.

I did it myself. You take the struts out, carefully undo everything and swap the springs over, then put them back together. Some people say you need a spring compressor but in my experience I didn't. Be careful though! You should be able to tell before you pull it apart how much tension the spring is under. If in doubt, buy a spring compressor.

Well, I was maxing out my AFM and the injectors were up over 93% duty even at 0 degrees. It could just be getting to the limits a lot earlier, hence the iffy top end. I'm pretty sure it'll be fine at -4 or so after a tune, after I replace the aforementioned items. The AFM arrives in January or February, and a tune comes soon after that.

How much were the plugs from Nengun? I imagine the postage will be dirt cheap, you could even send them in a normal envelope. Might be better than a $50 one from Justjap.

I've had a bit more success with tracking some more details down. I rang another Repco because I hadn't heard back from the first one, and this guy rang me back within minutes. He said that they are $350 (not sure if that's trade or retail) but that Bosch Australia won't have any until mid January, possibly until mid February. Just Jap sell the plug new for $50. For some reason it's a Tomei brand plug?! And has wires with it too. I can't see why it wouldn't work with a PowerFC. If Bosch can make a unit that works with a 300ZX, then surely it would work with a PowerFC and a GTS-t or GTR as well?

Yeah in the end I figured out how to hold the belt under tension by myself when slipping the gear on, but there was one point where I got a friend to keep it under tension while I fiddled with the gear and it was much easier. Whatever the case, 2 hours workshop time seems to be a bit of a rort. But I've had 2 different quotes from 2 different (somewhat reputable) workshops and they both seemed to think it was a much bigger job than it really is. One said that the PFC tune would cost an additional $150 because they would fiddle with the gear timing between runs to get the optimal setting. So that's around another 2 hours of gear fiddling?!