KrazyKong

Give Gulf Western a call on their 1-800 number off their website and ask for their Perth distributor. Shouldn't be a hassle at all and will only take one call. Yeah I was all set to go with the Motul 8100 but then discovered it didn't come in 10w40. Then ended up settling on Sougi and it's the perfect oil for my car I feel. I was told by the Motul distributor that they are thinking of possibly releasing a 10w40 in the 8100 range so that would be great if they do. The problem with 300V isn't just the price, it's the fact we need 4.7L and the bottles only come in 4L + 2L. So we have to buy an extra 1.5L pretty much for each oil change. From what I've seen the 8100 series come in a 5L bottle, so if they do end up making a 10w40 I'm hoping it too will come in a 5L bottle. +1. I know 5w40 is close enough, but still don't feel comfortable just yet going to it. I guess once Sougi dries up I won't have a choice. We live in Australia, yet there are some really bizarre oil weights being sold here. It doesn't get to -30c here so the mind boggles why there's so much cold weather crap being sold. Galois, you can pickup a proper NTK OEM O2 sensor from Kudos Motorsports. Cost me $77. I posted some pics of the unit here awhile back. http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/-t...t&p=5225914 It comes with the correct harness and clip so it just snaps in, and you're away driving. This is the O2 sensor I changed to and you know how great my fuel economy was increase too Lol, Nulon "100% Fully Synthetic" doesn't get my supporters around here. Not because of the product, but how they chose to state it was 100% fully synthetic when it's no better than Group III oil with additives. And in a way a shame too, as it's probably not a half decent oil. But it's not even close to the true synthetic oils. It's a semi, but they are cheating people with their advertising and labeling.

So am I being stubborn then in my insistence to only use a 10w40 oil? So a 5w40 would be just as good? Do you want a larger number spread between cold and hot weights, or a lower one? I ask this in relation to formulations and additives, and the longevity of the oil.

I could hear the noisy lifters more often when the engine was hot. This may simply mean I wasn't paying attention however until after I had driven where I needed to go. But I do know they were tapping for awhile when the engine was hot. Still I think it's another sign to not trust Penrite HPR10. It was indeed a bad oil to use in my car. It's supposed to be 10w50 but it's cold weight seemed heavier than a 20w oil. The oil pressure was above 6 when cold too, so I had to really baby it until the oil had warmed up properly. The hot weight seemed ok pressure wise, but then I would get lifter noises. Though I don't recall them being there when I first did the change, so it's possible the oil sheared or broke down very quickly. This is what worries me. My experience with Penrite and then with Sougi -- both cold weights are listed as 10w, but Sougi is clearly a better 10w. So whatever comes next after Sougi, I just want to be sure I will find an oil that will work in my car as great as it is now. The larger question is do oil weights = oil weights from differing makes and brands?

Hmm, I had something similar a year ago when I first bought my car. It wasn't anything alarm related, but rather the throttle body needed cleaning. The car would cut out when coasting to a stop, or when stopped with no foot on the accelerator. Once the throttle body was cleaned, the stalling problem went away. When I did have the problem, I was able to restart the car always, but it was annoying and a bit worrying at the time as I didn't know why it was doing it. I've seen the 20s thing on other cars before. It's just an added security measure to thwart someone when they are trying to steal your car. If your dash is still lit up when the car cuts out, then it sounds like it's not a power issue but rather, the ignition could be cutting out with some loose wiring from the alarm. Maybe worth paying someone to go over the alarm wiring. Otherwise all I can recommend is to clean the throttle body.

Yeah I know Birds I'm all over the place. Facing the day with the thought of losing my Sougi didn't bring a smile to my face. You have any more info on that btw? Thanks guys for the equations for working out L/100km. This last fillup, I got 10.8L per 100km. And going on the average for the past year, it was 14.33L per 100km. Ah ok Birds, so the O2 sensor could be a big factor here. I know the Sougi helps in the sense of reducing the stress of the engine pushing an inferior oil, but it isn't just the fuel economy that's been improved. The engine noise is lower, the lifter tapping noises I heard a few weeks ago are gone. The oil pressure seems to be more stable and less high like the previous Penrite garbage. Oh one thing I forget to add in the above list of work the car has had over the past 2 weeks was that I also took apart the throttle body and cleaned with some Nulon Throttle Body & Carby cleaner. Also gave the AAC valve a nice squirt, but didn't take it off all the way, so couldn't really get in there and give it a complete clean. Birds the places I drive, I really don't spend much time at traffic lights. And for the previous year of bad fuel economy it's been freeway driving, 20min drives, long return trips to Brisbane and back etc. So it's been a mixture. I never ever saw an improvement from freeway driving to driving around town etc. I just kept getting under 7kms per litre no matter how I drove the car. It's a nice feeling to see the extra effort and work I've done on the car paying off. For each step of the way I've probably been over cautious and bugged alot of folk on here with lots of questions lol. But it's paid off. Galois you can't go wrong if you take it slow and do it properly. The end results are speaking for themselves. The car has alot more power, better response, sounds better and has increase fuel economy. All I need is a hot bikini babe in the passenger seat and I'd have to say things were near perfect Only things left for the car once I finish off the interior with some sound proofing are to mount the FMIC finally, then see whether or not I need a SAFC. At that point I would have completed the Stage 1 mods to my car.

I finally got around to crunching some numbers tonight and wow the results were pretty amazing. I don't just have better gas mileage, I've had a phenomenal increase in gas mileage. For the past year I've been getting around 6.8kms per litre. What I would do is fill the tank up, reset the trip meter and drive until my next fill up. Then fill it up again, and write down how many kms I've done, and how many litres I put in the tank. 6.8kms was the average I was getting. Sometimes 6.9 or others 6.7, but never above 7. (NOTE: I'm not quite sure how to get the Litres used per 100kms equation happening. The one I'm using instead, is simply a way to see how many kms you get per litre.) Tonight after seeing the numbers, I got... 9.24kms per litre! Wow, that's a huge increase in fuel economy. To put this in perspective, I did 341.7kms using 36.97L of BP Ultimate 98. A couple of weeks ago, to do 341.7kms I would have been filling up with... 49L of BP Ultimate. That's as 12L difference at $1.45 per litre. Another note, I got a whole year of gas receipts sitting in a box near my desk so I know what my car was doing previously pretty well. Now how did I achieve this. It could be a number of factors here. All in the space of a few days I had my outer tie rod ends replaced, plus a front alignment. Had my automatic transmission fluid changed (used GW Systrans) plus a new filter and cork gasket. Then had a new split 3" dump + front pipe installed, and had my existing 3" high flow cat re-welded to new flanges. Installed a new NGK OEM O2 sensor which I got from Kudos Motor Sports. Installed a brand new set of Bosch Platinum spark plugs at the pregap of 1.1. Then replaced the rocker cover gaskets as well with brand new ones. I also did a radiator flush a few times, and put some new but cheap coolant in. Somewhere in here, I did an oil change using Sougi and a Drift oil filter (has a magnet in it). I think that about covers it. Now this all happened in a span of 3-4 days. So what was the cause of my vast improvement in gas mileage? A combination of some of those things, maybe just a few, or all of them. At each point when this work was being done either by myself of the places I was going to, I felt the improvement. I felt the gears shifting nicer with the new ATF in. The car went onto boost quicker after the new pipes put in. The car was quieter, smoother and felt more powerful after the oil change. Even starting the car I noticed a difference which one could put down to the new plugs. So if grouping all of those things together, then that's your answer as to how I got better fuel economy. But if you look a little deeper, then it probably has to be just a few things. Could it be - A) The new O2 sensor? B) The better breathing exhaust system? C) The new Bosch Platinum spark plugs? D) The new rocker cover gaskets? E) The new ATF in the transmission? F) The new oil in the engine with a hopefully better oil filter than the standard Ryco ones. Looking at those options, I'd have to say that obviously the O2 sensor is helping, but from what I've heard it's not even used once you put your foot down, so it's more for idling and low revs right? My best guess is it's the new spark plugs, ATF or oil. Or simply all of those combined with the new O2 sensor and 3" pipes. I'm quite pleased with the results as I'm seeing them immediately at the pump. I know Sougi played it's part in the fuel economy. The car feels so much better since I've started using it. Oh the cruel world to then take our Sougi away. It's enough to make me all angry again lol

Straying off the topic of Sougi for a second, I got this email reply from Link International who are the Motul distributors in Australia. The part I got excited about was hearing they might just produce a 10w40 8100 oil, and hopefully in a 5L bottle. That's a good post Galois. We need to base an oil not on what it calls itself, but what it's made of. That way we'll be able to determine if it's a proper genuine synthetic oil or not.

Birds I just saw your reply after I had posted my long one lol. Couldn't agree more. If you do end up sending an email, follow it up with a proper letter. An email and phone call will not achieve anything when it comes to concerns or complaints. A physical letter is the most effective way to convey ones concerns. Absolutely Birds, the XMP thing for $12 is mind boggling. Great if you want to actually use that oil, but dreadful when it comes to perception. Birds, GW need to hire you as a promoter. Seriously they need to get their retail act together. Heck I could even do a good job at turning things around and getting their products onto store shelves. The problem here isn't the product, but how it's not even marketed. No wonder Castrol and Mobil sell so much oil. It's everywhere, has fancy packaging, TV ads etc. Doesn't mean it's any good, but the marketing side of things is working that's for sure. Sougi is a perception changer. It worked for me and it has for others. It's the kind of product that made me stop thinking of GW as a company who bought cheapass oil from China and repackaged it as "Australian Made", to one who actually formulated their own products, and one I've spent a lot of time in recommending to others. If GW do kill off Sougi, you can guarantee my feelings and perceptions will also change about them. Thus my recommending them will also cease. Then GW again becomes a cheapass company selling $12 bottles of oil.

Yeah I think Redline is certainly overkill for a fairly stock Skyline. Sadly, at least in my perception there's a gap between quality of oils. You have Motul/Redline up the top of the spectrum, Sougi sitting just under them, then there's a dropoff to the Mobil 1s, Castrol Edge, Penrites & Nulons. I might make a chart at some point to find out exactly what group each oil is. Who knows there might be a hidden gem in there akin to Sougi. I called GW today to inquire if they sold 20L bottles of Sougi. I know it states in their catalog they do, but it turns out they don't. The guy I spoke with (can't remember his name), but he was the first guy to answer the phone on their 1-800 number, mentioned a few things to me. Ben Vicary I was told is the General Manager of GW. Andrew who we have referred to is his brother and also one of the managers. The guy I spoke with said more certainly it was worth sending emails, calls and letters to Ben. The Vicary family run GW Australia, so I'm not sure if the decisions stop with them, or if there is also a Board of Directors. Both can be reached at [email protected] Also Andrew at [email protected] and quite possibly Ben at [email protected] I do think good old fashioned snail mail is still more effective. I was several years ago a Customer Service manager for a large computer firm. Phone calls and emails can easily be forgotten about or "ignored". A letter is tangible. It exists and will sit on someones desk. Addressing a letter to the GM of a company almost guarantees you will get a response too. It's alot harder to ignore a letter than it is a phone call or email. It's possible other people in the company will see this letter too. Plus there's the factor of taking the time to write a letter (or print one off), mailing it etc., that comes across in a very favourable light. It means you took the time to express your concerns, and thus it's very possible they will reciprocate. Now getting back to the phone call. The guy said he had heard something about Sougi, but nothing in any concrete form. That doesn't mean much really as if he's simply the guy answering the phone, he's most likely not privy to the manager meetings or discussions. But he also mentioned something that caught my ear. Rather than Sougi being canceled altogether, it might be re-incarnated into a new product to abide by new standards and so forth. This did sound like some promising news, but seeing as how this hasn't come from either Ben or Andrew, we're going to have to take it with a grain of salt. Anyway the main thing was he never at any point said yes Sougi is being discontinued. Rather he said he's heard a few things about it, but nothing was determined or set in stone. I know Andrew has however stated in an email SOugi is being canned, so it would be wise to take Andrews comments at this point as what's really going on. If they come up with an updated product and call it Tofu, I'll still buy it. As long as it's 10w40 and based on the same ester formulation as Sougi I'll be happy. It's not the name I care about, rather the product itself and how my car runs on it.

Got some Redline 10w40 prices from Bursons today. 1L + 3.8L for $180. Yip the f**king ee. So it's even more expensive than 300V. Mosoto, you're right about GW shooting itself in the foot. I mean my perception when from crap K-Mart company brand to holy crap, they make a killer product. Whose ever going to think of them favorably now? I'm not. In fact just like I was telling everyone I knew, about how great Sougi was, any further recommendations for their products will end there. Back to the thinking they are a cheapass K-Mart company again, and find a proper company who won't leave us in the lurch. At this point it's looking like it's either going to be Motul 8100 or Royal Purple. The jump in price for 300V and Redline is insane. Still hoping Birds will find out some good information today. Andrew may have said it's a done deal, but things can be turned around too.

You know of all the ways to let a company know your disdain and what you feel about them, I have heard actually the humble letter is one of the most effective. It carries more weight than an email or phone call as it shows you were so concerned you took the time to write out something, goto the post office and mail it. You can bet your ass I'll be mailing something soon to them. Birds, I hope your conversation with Andrew goes well. There might still be hope, even if it's a long shot. GW did a terrible job of marketing this oil, and just about their entire range on a retail front. So it really is no surprise to see they canned it. Heck some weeks back I even made a comment about hoping they weren't going to discontinue selling it, as it just seemed odd we could only get it from a distributor. Yet all those rubbish oils were sitting on the shelves in the Ricebarns, Notso Super Cheaps and Pepcos. I suppose it might be worth looking at the Syn-X, but at this point I don't want to go back a step in grade and quality of oil after using Sougi. Maybe I'll have to re-evaluate my position of 10w40 being the only weight of oil I would be using from now on. I don't know. I was so impressed with Sougi, it gave me the confidence to try their Syntrans ATF fluid. I figured if they can make one product that is great, surely they could make more. I mean we're all beating the Sougi drum here, and in fact gaining sales for GW, even if they are only nickels and dimes. Awareness is growing, people are becoming aware of this product. Image perception is still a wanted factor by companies regardless of whether they do more business in a volume or industrial zone than retail. But the impact of seeing a loved product pulled only creates disgust and anger from what I've seen. Yeah it seems the Royal Purple and 300V options are looking more likely the only options. However I do want to see if I can find a distributor for Redline, what it costs and so on. Otherwise, what about the idea of being able to get 300V cheaper from Motul (Link International) and then passing on those savings to folks here? I mean if a 4L bottle retails for $105, what would the buy price be I wonder. Heck maybe all you need is an ABN or something and some "Dyno" shop in some far off suburb to then qualify for the dealer prices. Something to look into for the future I suppose, but really not worth spending much time on at present. Birds, maybe you can persuade Andrew to do one more run of Sougi perhaps with the idea that ok they might still kill the product in the end, but if we all send him our vote of confidence and how well loved the product is, maybe we might get a reprieve for a little while. And yeah, I gather it's a corporate move by the executives, but it's a completely stupid one at that. From my searches on Google today I found posts in all kinds of forums from rexies to commodores, to beamers all using Sougi. So it's not just us guys who lose. Plus it's sold overseas as well in Asia and Kiwiland. GW need to hire a promoter, a proper person who is passionate about their product and get it in stores. It might make them a few more dollars, but the perception of their company would be far better than the cheap $12 bottles of 20w50 that are sold in Ricebarn and K-Marts. I mean that's what I thought of their company to begin with. A cheapass "Australian" in name only company who put out oil on par with your cooking oil. How wrong was I. If we are talking marketing exercises here, then the Bugatti Veyron has to be the most spectacular example. So what if VW lose money on each car sold, the good will, admiration and fandom that car created is phenominal. They couldn't have achieved that spending the same amount of money just for marketing anyway, so really the company still wins in the end. I don't GW even realise how good Sougi is, let alone how so few other companies have made something on par with it. They need to know, and I think we can all make a difference. Oh, one final thing, Birds can you ask Andrew if GW are killing both versions of Sougi? I'm pretty sure we all only care about the S 6000 version anyway, so if we are losing the M 5000 I don't think anyone's going to care as long as the S 6000 is still around.

I'm still stewing about this. It might only be motor oil, but I've sure as heck spent a lot of time and money trying to find the right stuff, and being ripped off by the auto stores during the process. Why can't a company treat it's customers with care and look after them instead of always thinking of the bottom line. Speculating here, but I can't believe Sougi was a money losing excercise for GW, so why cancel it? I hope Birds has some real info on this, the reasons for why, and maybe what we can do about it if anything. GW need to hear from people how this decision is the wrong one. Still I half expected this to happen one day feeling surely this was too good to be true. I mean we normally get raped by every company under the sun nowdays, what to speak of the Government screwing us over with all kinds of registrations, insurances, licensing and other ridiculous ways to simply make us go postal. If there was a clear cut choice or alternative, then it wouldn't be so bad. Hell I even called around today for prices on some Chrono 300V. One hundred and sixty f**king dollars. Sougi $60. Motul $160. It's enough to make one go mad. Looking into things further, I'm not even sure Royal Purple was a Group V oil either. Certainly Group IV, but I think their XPR stuff is Group V. Will need to research Redline and Fuchs. Spent hours this evening on the web looking at all kinds of brands from Elf, Pennzoil, Lucas, Xrev, Mobil, Castrol, Shell, Valvoline and many others. 10w40 in a fully synthetic is stupidly rare it seems. Unless I just give in and pretend the Nulons and rubbish are "fully" synthetic oils. I'm not imaging things when I say that Sougi in my R33 is the best oil I've ever used, so naturally I don't want to go back to the shit I've been led to believe was the "right" stuff. Birds, we need you bro.

Yeah I was thinking that too Galois. A petition or simply messages of peoples support of the product from passionate car communities. I have Andrew's email address actually from sometime back. Will await Bird's comments before sharing it. That way all who desire can send him an email and voice their disapproval at this. Now what, we all horde 20 bottles of the stuff? or find another suitable 10w40 oil. That means Royal Purple or buying 4+2L of Motul 300V You know what would be a good idea, is for a distributor to buy up big on the stuff, then sell it off over time. I mean if I knew I could purchase some Sougi for years to come, then paying $10-15 shipping wouldn't be a problem. Hopefully Birds might have some input on this too. This sucks big time. I was buzzing about Sougi and their Syntrans ATF Fluid as well. I had a great perception of the company and I would say yes I had some brand loyalty for sure. But something like this only makes me pissed off. Enough to say FU, then go spend more money with another company. Not that I want to spend more money, but what choice do I have.

WTF! I expect Birds will have more info on this...

The picture I posted Brock is from an R32 Vspec. So the dimensions for each car will probably be a little different. I have a R33 but the idea should be the same for each car. I have those foam things stuck on the bottom of my wooden board too. Will take a picture of them tomorrow. It looks like the foam bits are the same thickness as the one in the picture. So will try either Clark Rubber, Bunnings or a carpet place. It's pretty dense foam, so underlay might be too squishy for it. But still this should be a fairly simple thing to cut out once we find the correct foam to use. A tip my neighbour told me to straighten the warped board was to soak it under a hose, then place cinder blocks or bricks on it. It should then dry straight. I'm not game enough to try that just yet, and was going to get some wood or plywood and cut a new one instead. I've hated the sag in my boot. Feels like a sand dune sometimes. But the best part is I now know what is missing and it looks simple enough we can all make one.

Called Nissan today about this seal and was quoted $175! Uhh ok. They don't sell the seal separetly so you have to buy the whole coil cover itself which explains the high price. Looking like silcone is going to be the best bet I guess. Will checkout Clark Rubber. Maybe they got something that would be close enough.

I had that thought too Stephen. Do the compliance guys rip these out, or did they simply rot with age. Then it could have been the Japanese owners/sellers or the importers here tossing them. Will be interesting to see if anyone posts here who actually has one.

I can't answer those questions about how black the oil should be. I don't know enough about that to say what's good or bad. Rather I do know that black doesn't mean bad, or that the oil has broken down and needs replacing immediately. If you're burning oil, you'll be able to smell it anyway, see the smoke and be topping her up regularly. If you're not having to do any of these, then that's a good thing. You're right, Sougi or any other oil isn't going to be as "effective" as a proper engine flush treatment. I was all set to do a flush myself, but after reading things on here decided against it. We all strive to make things clean and so on, but due to the age and wear of our engines it's very possible the stuff that's left in there is actually helping seal things nicely. Galois, after reading you've done 2x Nulons, one 8100 and some Castrol, I'd put some Sougi in there now. You've done plenty of oil flushes, so I'd recommend just going straight to Sougi. I didn't realise how many changes you've done. Sougi is good for 10000kms, but rather than do 2500km as I mentioned before, you'll easily get 5000kms. If you feel it needs another change, then do it then and from that point on it's up to you if you want to change every 5000, 7500 or 10000kms. If you're car is that sludged up and feeling the effects of not being serviced properly in Japan, then I think you'd know about it at this point. The key here, is your oil is most likely turning black due to carbon cleaning and not from sludge or other residue.

I know I'm not the only one whose boot has this warping on the spare tyre cover. This isn't my car, but you can see what I mean here. I've always wondered why the cover that sits atop the spare tyre never fit properly. Now I know! Mine was crooked, and the wood/cardboard thing all bent and warped. I came across this picture today and it all made sense. There's supposed to be some foam that clears the spare tyre, with the cover then resting on this, and not directly on top of the tyre. Now I probably doubt these exist anymore. I've never seen one in anyones Skyline, but then again I don't go pulling up the carpet on each one either lol. It looks like a 1inch thick kind of foam underlay, so I'm sure it's possible to cut one to shape and size. Though it would be nice to locate a genuine one. Has anyone seen one of these in person before? Or even have one in their car?

Decided to do a little work on the boot lid today. First off was to duct tape some cut up utility blanket stuff to the boot lid. I figured why not increase the sound proofing before putting the lining on. Once I was happy with this, it was time to mount the boot lid lining. And now all done with the clips in. I only used one layer of the utility blanket material and could have gone with two. Obviously it's not going to work as well as say Dynamat would, but I have a few rolls of this stuff and am confident it will help things nicely. It can't hurt to try right. The lining looks nice once mounted and am happy I persevered in locating one

The point of this thread is to have in one place information regarding one of the most commonly asked questions... what oil do I use in my car? From experience I can say the recommendations from auto stores like Autobarn, Super Cheap & Repco etc., mean about as much as me giving you legal advice, and I know nothing about law. As Birds pointed out Motul is Chrono 300V. Also something to note, no one here is stating that either Motul or Royal Purple are now no good, or not recommending you use them. They are great oils, and still remain as such. However the cost factor comes into play. That's why Sougi is such a great oil. Almost identical oil for half the price. Sougi can only be comparable with the other oils in it's group rating, and at Group V, the only other oils to compare it to are Motul, Royal Purple and some Redline/Fuchs products. I don't think this is a discussion about Motul/RP vs Sougi. Rather that Sougi could be a better oil than the Castrols, the Mobils, the Shells, the Penrites, the Nulons etc. for pretty much the same price. So you're getting Group V oil for Group III prices. The last 20 pages of this thread, cover more about Sougi than in any other parts. I'd recommend not skimming them and reading them instead If I understand it correctly, what I think Birds means is the RB engine produces quite a bit of carbon. Thus if using a detergent heavy oil, the oil is going to go black fairly quickly. You remember my friends car I did the oil change on recently and forgot to screw in the pan bolt right!? lol. I sure do. I still managed to get 1-2L of Sougi into the engine, but obviously that wasn't going to be enough. So I drained that oil, and put a whole new bottle in. The car was never started, so the oil never got hot or thinned out. For having been in the engine for only one day, the new Sougi oil I drained out of the engine came out in parts black, in others clear. Talk about an expensive engine flush, but I was quite amazed at this. Anyway, Galois if I was in your situation, I'd put in some Sougi now and not bother with the 1000kms oil changes. Sougi is going to clean your engine alot better than the Castrol stuff. If you're still worried about things, then do 2500kms with some Sougi now, then drop it and put some new stuff in. If you're paying $40 for some Castrol every 1000kms, then it would be cheaper to do Sougi for 2500kms at $60 vs $120. What you have to determine is, is the oil that's coming out black because you have engine sludge and buildup, or because the detergents in the oil are cleaning the carbon from the engine. And from what Birds mentioned, carbon is going to be produced on a consistent basis with out engines. It doesn't take much to turn your oil black. If you've ever cleaned the throttle body, and sprayed the carbon deposits and buildup, you know how quickly the cleaning liquid turns black. Birds has mentioned quite a few times that Sougi turns black fairly quickly. Thus meaning it's doing a good job at removing the carbon and other deposits from the engine. I had always thought that black meant burnt, that it meant bad when it came to oil. Thus if the oil is black in your engine, get it out pronto. Funnily enough, the cheapest mineral oil around stays clearer for longer. Thus taking significantly more time to turn black. That doesn't mean your engine is cleaner, rather that the oil isn't actually doing any cleaning in the engine at all. So again, I'd ditch the Castrol and just start using Sougi at this point. It's going to clean your engine better.

Is that Castrol Edge, or just plain Castrol. Oil change every 1000kms would be expensive if you keep having to do it. How many times are going to change it? Yep Sougi is full of goodness. I should be a salesman for the stuff as I've told so many folks about it lol. All thanks to this thread and Birds for even knowing about the stuff. Yeah I totally agree, the right weight is critical to the running of the car. I knew right away the Penrite HPR10 I was "recommended" to buy from Autobarn wasn't the right stuff within minutes of trying it. It felt too heavy, too thick and the car took way longer to get up to running temperature. Even then it felt ok, but never great. Since I've done quite a few things to the car recently, I can't then specify exactly what's made the big difference in the feel. It's on boost quicker and smoother, feels more powerful, is quieter, got a hunch my gas mileage is better too, and gets up to running temperature way quicker than the old stuff. Knowing it's got good cleaning detergents in it, is a nice thought too. I'm a very satisfied Sougi customer . I hope more folks try it as you have nothing to loose, and possibly a lot to gain from doing so.

An interesting read for sure. Might look into this more thoroughly at some point in the future. On a similar note, I've always wondered about the pipe going into the throttle body that comes from the intercooler. I may not be understanding things correctly, but shouldn't this pipe actually be as cool as possible? All the trouble with FMIC etc., then when the air reaches this pipe, the heat transfer from the top of the engine then makes the air hotter passing through this section. Then it gets heated again hitting the throttle body. Has anyone wrapped this pipe at all to isolate it from the block heat transfer?

Finally got my hands on a nice condition boot lid liner today with all the clips

Glad to hear it. From my own experience, my car is now running better than at any point I've owned it. Since I've done alot of work on my car lately, I think it's the culmination of all the things together that are making a noticeable difference. And yeah, the car running on Sougi feels quieter, smoother and kickass. I liken it to when I had a skateboard as a kid and put new bearings in the wheels. A nice dash of oil in each, not tightening them too much, and wow did my skateboard glide on air after that. Had my first real drive of my car using Sougi today, and she simply flew. Did 300kms round trip and the car felt like she wasn't even breaking a sweat. Going to crunch some numbers at some point as I'm hesitant to say it, but the gas mileage feels like a major gain at present. I still find it odd that so few of the oil companies actually sell a 10w40 oil. Nulon does, Motul, Royal Purple and Sougi do, but no Castrol, no Mobil, no Penrite (havn't checked the Sin series). I think weight is of equal importance as much as whether or not it's a synthetic. Eric, I was using Penrite HPR10 previously for about 6000kms and I will never use it again. I always had a gut feeling the 10w50 was the wrong weight oil for my engine and now after letting her rip on the highway today, I have to say the Sougi is the best oil I've ever used. Everything is more responsive, going to boost, quieter engine, feeling like it's gliding along instead of labouring. Granted I have not used Royal Purple or Motul, but still Sougi is the best oil I have ever personally used, and I can hear and feel the difference. All I can say is buy some Sougi and try it out, I'm pretty sure you won't ever try another brand of oil again.