Hanaldo

It has been fine up until that drive, cruise AFR's used to be 15.5, or around 14.5 at 100km/h. I'm thinking it may be the O2 sensor has failed, which would be very disappointing given that it is only about 5000kms old.

Well actually it is amazing what a good buff will do. I thought my paint job looked shit and gritty until I buffed it, now it shiiiiiiiiiiiines Is the grit you are seeing in the paint actually dirt, or is it grit from the painter not thinning the paint down enough? If he hasn't buffed it then that may be the extent of your problems mate. Though if he wants you to bring it back in January, he is gonna have his work cut out for him to buff it off as the paint will have gone quite hard by then. And if it is the base coat that is contaminated then he would have to buff through the clear to get to it. Post some photo's of it mate, may be able to understand the quality of the job better.

Right, finally got round to changing the plugs and the car feels much happier. Took it for a 15 minute drive and it didn't make the noise once, though I don't know if maybe it wasn't hot enough. But at this stage there is no noise so it seems fine. One thing though... My wideband is telling me I'm running extremely rich. This is before the spark plug change though, so it's not like I've left a hose off or something. After driving for an hour and a half or so on the weekend I noticed the reading towards the end of my trip. At 60-70km/h I'm cruising at about 13.5; at 90-110 it's at 11.5-12 and even got as low as 10.3 for a small amount of time. The car doesn't feel or sound any different though, I would have thought that at 10.5 while cruising it would have been a bit rough or backfiring a bit? Possibly a hose clamp or something? Doesn't have any of the usual symptoms though, the car drives fine on and off boost, it's just the reading on the wideband...

I got them second-hand through a member on here mate, so can't help you there. But I think they still have part numbers on them so I'll go have a look quickly. As for the seats, they are Sparco Torino II's and yes they are bottom mounted.

Ring Recaro back and ask to speak to someone else, bloke doesn't know what he is talking about. I've got Recaro rails in my car.

Quoted from the Turbosmart installation manual:

Yeh sellers will always tell you universal rails will fit. Though if you were speaking to Steve, he usually knows his stuff... But there is no way those rails on their site would fit, I can see that just by looking at them. They may fit with modification, but not straight out of the box. If they fit 32's and 33's, they're not going to fit a 34. If money isn't a problem, look for some Bride or Recaro rails. Recaro's are usually cheaper, Bride's are usually easier to find. But you can buy them and know 100% that they will fit and work perfectly.

External gate is VERY hard to keep hidden. Even custom jobs that I have seen where the intention was to hide the gate, it's still easily spotted if the cops are looking around. if you're worried about cops at all, I wouldn't be going external gate.

Painting really isn't that hard, it just takes patience and care. Sure it's easy to mess up, but if you're careful then you won't. I managed to respray my car on my first attempt and it looks better than the factory paint did. For someone who does it day-in-day out, the care needed should be habitual. I just don't understand why so many Australian businesses don't take any pride in their work. So many people are happy to let customers leave with poor quality jobs. I'd be embarrassed.

Not your fault for trusting the guy, it just goes to show what Australian businesses are like that you have to question your trust in them. That said, don't stress out mate. I know how frustrating and devastating it is, I've been in similar positions where I've come close to selling. But paint is something that can be fixed. Don't worry about the layers of paint or any filler he has used, that's easily removed so it can be done again. I think that you should go back in there and tell him you're very unhappy with the job. If he doesn't agree to fix it, and properly this time, for no extra charge, then tell him you'll be reporting him to the ACCC. Can you put some pictures up of the job??

Yep, Mark is a magician. Though if you are in a rush then you may be disappointed, he is getting married soon and doesn't have a lot of time. Still recommend giving him a call though, great bloke and will try his hardest to help you out.

Personally I wouldn't go down the route of modifying the stock rails either. You cost yourself money there as well because you could easily get $300-$400 for the stock seats in good condition. Smash them apart to get the rails off and you may as well have paid $400 for Bride rails which will be ALOT safer in the even of a car accident than anything you could knock up yourself for cheap. But that's your choice. I've never liked taking the cheap way out when it comes to modifying cars, it always leads to problems. If you want to modify a car, be prepared to pay for it.

The universal ones? They're not gonna fit either mate, notice on the JustJap website it does not mention GTT's in the compatibility list? You've wasted your money if you've already bought them. GTT's have a unique floor plan, you need to get GTT specific seat rails to suit them. Bride or Recaro are the only ones I know of that make them.

http://forum.nistune.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1431&hilit=z32+fake

Well read the feedback left on their profile mate, that's how eBay works. I'd say that with all the negative feedback being left, they aren't very good to deal with when something goes wrong.

I've got an AGP triple core, Australian made but I'd say exactly the same as the China spec. Works perfectly, haven't seen temperatures above 85 degrees even on the track. Usually sits dead still at 83.3 degrees.

Looks ok to me, though I can't see the detection component very well. Usually the fake ones have a very poor quality ceramic detection component, whereas the genuine ones will have an orange base with a neatly done thermistor in the middle and then the hot wire. Your detection component looks ok from what I can see, so I'd say it's genuine.

When they have lasted 15+ years, then you can start drawing comparisons. Anyway, this has gotten way outta hand lol. Nobody ever said Splitfires aren't great coils, they are. I simply said that IF Splitfires and a set of brand new OEM's were the same price, I would go the OEM's every time.

He has OEM's ^^ And he is running 1.1 plug gap with a Hypergear turbo, I certainly couldn't do that with my Splitfires.

Does that mean that they occasionally do?

You should note that is the experienced users who are putting their money on the OEM's.

Who told you that, the seller? Suggest you read up mate http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/topic/187108-jjr-coil-packs-vs-oem-vs-splitfire-vs-other/ http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/topic/356895-so-i-have-a-set-of-splitfire-and-a-brand-new-oem-set/page__p__5708832__hl__splitfire__fromsearch__1#entry5708832

This ^ Do a search. It's been discussed before very extensively.

Stock coils are still the best, they just don't last for 15 years, they're a perishable. If I had a choice between new OEM coils and Splitfires for the same price, I would go the OEM's.

I think you will be hard pressed to get something like that in writing. There's so much that could go wrong, and seeing as I don't think NIStune has been done with an NA 34 ECU before, it's simply a lot of experimenting that could end up taking a lot of dyno time. That said, $1500 is very very expensive for a NIStune tune anyway, so it seems to me that they are factoring in the time that will be taken up in playing such guessing games.