KrazyKong

Well well. Learned something today as I was picking up a part for my car. A guy I met today tried screwing in a stud into both my back and front "missing" holes. In both of them the thread stuck and started to screw in!! So this could mean I am only missing studs rather than them being snapped off. When a stud snaps in the exhaust manifold does it snap right at the point it's flush with the manifold, or can it snap way into the head? Will try and get a camera in there to take a picture, but it might be tricky. If it turns out I'm only missing studs as opposed to having them broken, this might not be such an ordeal as I had feared. Oh, and this is interesting. I was told of a method to help bet out a broken stud though it requires some welding equipment. Step 1 is to weld a washer to the end of the broken stud. Step 2, weld a nut to the washer. Step 3, use a fixed spanner and out she comes. The person who told me this has actually used this method to get them out, but it only really worked since his neighbour was a welder. Anyway, some food for thought. As far as driving it goes, currently I can't hear and manifold leaks. Powerwise I've only seen an increase with all the work I've done on my car lately. Still I will make an attempt at some point to take off the turbo, and have a real look at the exhaust manifold studs.

Thanks for that info Rob. I'm not hearing any leaks or noises in that area. So is it possible I could just have snapped or missing bolts, and the manifold not be banana-ish? I don't know how much the easy out kits are, but it sounds like some serious tool expenditure for those as well as a 90° drill attachment. The more work I do on the car, the more I discover things. Am so wanting things to be over and just drive, wash and smile basically.

Great I found another stud missing from the exhaust manifold. It's now missing the rear most and front most ones. Will have to have a proper crack and seeing if they are missing or snapped off, though it won't be this week however.

I can't hear a leak, so that hopefully has to be good news. I do see what looks like oil around that area, but it's highly likely it was from the rocker cover gaskets and thus has simply leaked down. I'm not planning on having the turbo out at any point, so this would be a huge job by the sounds of things. Looking at a few pictures on the net I can see the bolts/studs. I'm not just missing a nut, I'm missing the whole thing all together. I hope it just fell out vs snapped off. Will have to shine a light in there to see if it's snapped or not. Ah crap, this isn't a job I really want to do, and it looks like it would take days. I don't have any tools for dealing with snapped studs and all that stuff. Other than the extraction of snapped studs, I think I could handle the removal of everything. It looks fairly straightforward unless taking off the turbo with all the lines and other things is a nightmare.

Nismoid, I'm not experienced enough to know if that's what you are referring to or not. It's the manifold that looks to be in two sections of 3 pipes on the exhaust side of the engine. The bolts go in pairs, one top and one at the bottom, actually it's more like a 45 degree angle that the bolts are on. I'll take a picture tomorrow to be safe and show you what I'm referring to. Ah ok, so rather than just try and get a replacement bolt, or stud I should take them all off then. So this would require taking the turbo off and all the surrounding pipes etc. right?

I noticed on the weekend when installing a new dump + front pipe I was missing the rearmost exhaust manifold bolt on my car. I was surprised to see this, but figured ok I'll track down a proper bolt. Was under the car today and had a closer look. Surprising the two bolts nearest to the one I'm missing were so loose I could turn them with my fingers. Not really being prepared to deal with it, I tightened them as best I could with a fixed spanner. Now I'm thinking rather than just finding a replacement for the missing bolt, I might be better off checking all the bolts on the manifold. So what's involved in this? Obviously all the pipes above have to go, but is it possible to check all the bolts without unbolting the turbo as well? I see there's an aluminium heat shield that covers the manifold as well. Anyway, since I have no knowledge of experience for this part of the guy, am hoping someone where knows what's involved. Hopefulyl I don't have to take off too much of the car so that I can get to and check each bolt is nice and tight.

I bought my FMIC a few months back but have been preoccupied with other facets of the car. Now that I'm close to finishing all of those, it's FMIC time. I have a return flow ARC one. I don't know the model, but it's more of a square shaped unit than say a stock GTR FMIC one which is not as high, but wider. I'm told it is a very good unit however as it's Japanese made and ARC is a good brand. It also looks to be in great condition. I have a turbo back exhaust. 3" to the cat, and slightly larger from the cat back. So hmmm, what would you do in my position then rice? Would there be any difference in the way I get 10 psi? R32 actuator vs grounding solenoid? And if I get 10psi through grounding the solenoid due to having a turbo back exhaust, wouldn't I then get more than 10 with the r32 actuator?

Today I reminded myself just how much of a legend I am. Did an oil change for a friends car, and used Sougi S 6000 for the job. Had the car draining the old oil nicely, and let it sit for a bit. Then screwed on the new oil filter, and started to fill er back up again. Only problem was... I hadn't screwed the oil pan bolt back in! Legend. 3-4 L of the good stuff now mixed into some old black oil. So an expensive mistake on my part, but I sure as heck won't ever forget the bolt again.

I was aware of the "increased" lag when mounting a FMIC. Was curious as I have read folks also had more boost showing on their gauges after mounting a FMIC too. My goal is to get the FMIC installed, then be running at 10psi. So am working out whether I should do the R32 actuator, or go with a t-piece. I quite like the R32 actuator idea though. Seems like a nice efficient way of getting to 10psi without splicing in t-pieces and so on. Also I'm more likely to eliminate boost creep due to having no t-piece setup right? Will see if I can wrangle up a R32 actuator. As far as the solenoid goes, that only gets disconnected if I go with the R32 actuator right? otherwise I can ground it now to get 7psi I believe. That's where I read about the increased psi from installing a FMIC I think. Guys would ground the solenoid which should give 7psi, but in actuality they were getting 10psi due to the higher flow.

Thank's for those I'm weighing up a few things when it comes to upping the boost. But had another question. Will installing a FMIC increase my boost pressure? I've read a few things where this might happen due to the increased airflow. Currently I have the stock SMIC installed.

Does anyone have a picture of the stock R32 actuator available, and where it's located in the engine bay. Hope I don't appear too stupid, but is the actuator and solenoid two different things? or do people refer to the same thing by different names. I've read the thread about grounding the stock R33 solenoid wire too achieve a permanent high boost mode. Just wondering about the actuator side of things, especially this thread here. I like the idea of 10psi and am nearing all my stage 1 mods being completed.

I'd recommend you take your car to a few other shops and get quotes too. The quote you were given was outrageous. Charging you $200 extra for platinums which you can get for 40 odd dollars yourself is cause for concern. I understand you wanting to learn and ask questions, I just don't think this is the shop for you.

Ah ok, that doesn't sound too bad then wilo. I doubt the coolant flush would have been an extensive one however. To do it properly takes quite a bit of time. If I were to guess, I'd say they would have simply drained the radiator then refilled. Leads? What are they referring to I wonder. We don't have any spark plug leads if that's what they were referring to. Fluids are easy to check yourself. You have your brake fluid, power steering, transmission if you have an auto, oil, window washer fluid and the main radiator coolant stuff. Wow that repco price for the Bosch Platinums is near double Super Cheaps Price. Definitely head in SCA and grab a six pack. No matter what store you end up going with the part # is P1-6 (FR7DPX). It's a six pack of plugs sealed in a clear plastic covering. The copper vs platinums/iridium debate is a forever on going one. If you take out the performance part of it, then it comes down to what lasts longer. And then the consensus is platinums/iridums last longer than coppers. Some people get 5000kms with coppers, some 20,000kms. And some people state they only got 5000kms with their platinums and others got 50,000-80,000kms.

Cartman, after reading your thoughts it doesn't sound so bad when you put it that way. However it didn't go down the way you're thinking it might have. I did the bulk of the work with my mate. We removed the old dump & front pipes without snapping any bolts. Quite a feat when they were rusted in there pretty good. Took the whole exhaust out as well. Then we installed the new front + dump pipes, hooked up the rear exhaust again and thus were left with only the cat to re install. From that point that's when the muffer guy actually did anything. Charging me 2 hours labor was already a stretch to begin with as he didn't even do 2 hours of labour, but it was a figure I had already budgeted for and thus simply accepted it. I might add he actually charged me $100 per hour instead of $90 per hour. Another thing I noticed but thought ok, I'll just have to accept it. As for me working in his shop, that was his idea and recommendation. It would mean the job would be done quicker, my hourly labour costs would be reduced and I wouldn't have to drive the car without an exhaust to his shop. I initially was going to work on the car at my house, then drive it to him minus the front exhaust and he would take it from there. But he suggested I come in and do it there. He never even hinted at that point he would charge me a hoist rental. All the previous times I'd been in contact with him, he gave the impression he was serious in trying to save me money. The key being, me do all the piping work, and then all he would have to deal with would be the re welding of the cat onto a new flange(s). Turned out I needed 2 flanges. So my total should have been $180 for 2 hours labour, 2 flanges. plus whatever bolts were used. I'm already covering his time by the hourly rate. The $125 figure you mention by your calculations, I don't then need to be paying him more hourly rates and labour for work he hasn't done. An hourly rate is an hourly rate, so if you do 2 hours, you get paid for 2 hours. I shouldn't have to pay more with a bonus as well. This guy didn't open the shop just for us on a Saturday. He opens every Saturday and they are normally just as slow as the day I went. That's why I was told to come in on that day, as they were normally days he just played around with his own midget cars on the off chance some guy came in and needed some work done. It's not my responsibility if he doesn't have work to do for the time he is there. That's how business works. You open up, and hopefully a customer will come in. I shouldn't have to pick up the slack because I was the only customer, therefore I should pay his entire wage for the day. He would have occurred those overheads regardless of whether I was there or not. Now... if he opened the shop especially for me then of course I would be responsible for paying him for all his time, not just the time spent working on my car. But he is open every Saturday from 8 till whenever, which means he may close at 12 or he may close at 4pm. The whole point of me going to this guy in the first place was to save money due to being screwed over from the previous muffler guy I went to. At the end of the day, the sole purpose of me going to him, and what I was supposed to be paying him for was to re weld in the cat. No one on here is going to accept that re welding in a cat should cost $375. Cartman I know you're not having a go at me, I'm simply stating what occurred and so on. Hope I'm not coming across as having a go at anyone here either as that's not my intention. The point is at the end of the day, a good mechanic is going to tell you listen, it might be worth your time & money just putting in a new cat and saving some labour and parts costs. A good mechanic should have enough experience and knowledge to know when to not fix/repair something and to just replace it new. For $375 I could have replaced the pipes at home, then gone to a cat place and had a new cat put in, then still had my "old" hi flow cat to sell. Heck the first guy charged me $375 to put in my frankenweld system to begin with. So it shouldn't at the end of the day cost me the same amount of money to simply cut it off, then re weld it back on a new flange. Big thanks to everyone for words of encouragement and support. I sucks going to mechanics and getting the short end of the stick, for which this has now occured two times in a row on nearly the exact same part in my car. I very much hope this is the end of my muffler dramas. Cheers.

$200 difference to go with platinum plugs vs coppers eh. I bought my 6 pack of Bosch Platinums for $38 from Super Cheap Auto. And someone mentioned here previously that this week they are $32. The $200 different would only be if they used proper NGK Iridiums or a very expensive platinum plug. Even then you're looking at just over $100 for 6, so they are adding on $80-100 profit just for the plugs. I'd say change them yourself. It's not that difficult and all you need for tools is a good socket set, extender and spark plug socket. As far as a major service goes, what are they proposing to actually do? I have a feeling they won't do much judging by the price discrepancy of the sparkies. Probably do things like check all your levels, maybe do an oil change, but again you're better off doing it yourself so you know for sure what's been put in there. Changing the oil and spark plugs are probably the two simplest services you can do on your car. Well worth a shot and giving it a go.

Ok will remember that about the foam/underlay stuff. Don't want any rust or fires that's for sure. Maybe it might still be good in the boot under the proper boot lining stuff. And instead of being on the outer layer of the doors, the inner layer providing the door trim will still attach. That way it won't get wet nor should it create rust or be a fire hazard. But what I don't know is what it will do for keeping out road noise and making the speakers sound better. It seems like decent stuff and I have tons of it, so am hoping to use it somehow

I found out today there's a GW distributor in Brisbane. But they're not a full on distributor and don't carry much petrol product on hand. They get their stock from the Gold Coast distributor funnily enough. Anyway here's the details: Cutting Edge Parts & Equipment 55 Boundary Rd Rocklea (07) 3274 3544 Price I was given was $82.50 incl GST. Will take a day or two to order in as they don't normally stock it and have to get it from down here on the Coast.

Richard you hit the nail on the head. I could not have described my situation when presented with the bill any better than you just have, so kudos to you I was put in an awkward position when he fronted the final bill to me with all these mystery charges suddenly appearing. I knew in my head he was cheating me, but tried to be civil about it and convince myself in the end it was close enough since the job was finally done. I'm not good in situations when put on the spot, and end up after the fact going oh shit, I should have done this or that etc. This guy even stated on the weekend when we were working on the car, that he has had run ins with customers before who wanted to punch his face in. And ironically enough, over bills that were too expensive. That's his reasoning for not working on turbos you see. Too many situations where people have called him on his charges. But for me it made no difference whether I had a turbo or not. He wasn't dealing with any pipe work anywhere near the turbo as that was the reason for me being in his shop in the first place. Take out the old piping, install the new ones, then all he would have to work with is the cat connecting to the front pipe. So turbo schmurbo, he's just an opportunist who thinks since I have a turbo, I'm going to be willing to fork out a few grand for some extra special bolts... you know because I got a turbo! This guy's had experience in this department, so I didn't stand a chance. But it's irritated me to no end, and yes my feet will do the walking. I was going to take my parents car there for some manifold work, but no chance now. Nor will my friend be going to this guy either, and he was looking at an entire exhaust system to be fitted apart from the end muffler itself. Told my neighbour and he too said he wouldn't be going to him. So that's 3 situations where he's lost business now. I got up the courage to go back there today... and man did he take a confrontational tone towards me! I didn't accuse him of anything, nor raise my voice at all. Inside I wanted too, but felt the calmer I was the better the outcome would be. I don't think it's too much to ask to get an invoice that actually states the correct prices, and for what I paid for. Took me 4 attempts total to get a breakdown of what I paid for. And he had the nerve to even state he should have charged me more since I was in the shop for 5 hours! Can you believe that!? lol He was the one who gave me permission to be there in the first place, knowing full well that by doing so I was saving myself labour costs. Then said he did me favours by not charging me GST and in the end looked like I'd insulted his firstborn and was ready to reach for his ole trusty shotgun under the counter. What a prick. Oh you bet I'm telling my mates about this, just like I did with the first dodgy muffer weasel. Also doing my best to tell my mates on here too

Wow that's interesting Trent. Blair, that's the same plugs I put in my car. Left them at the pre gap of 1.1 and so far they have been dynomite. Was driving home this evening and put my foot down at a green light. The car's never had that kind of zoom when getting off the line. Obviously all the things like new split dump and front pipe, plus 02 sensor come into play, but I know the sparkies are helping too. I'm on stock psi, but after putting in my FMIC, I'll go either with a simple t piece, install an r32 acuator, or ground my existing r33 one. I'm happy with my Bosch plugs right now. Time will tell how they hold up, but for the price I paid, I'm not only not complaining, I'm recommending them to folks running stock to 10psi boost.

I agree. For $400 I could have paid someone to do the work and save my mates and my own time. I was quoted $180 for 2 hours of his labour to do the work. It was his idea to do the work at his shop, so that when we were finished taking out the old system, he could then do the welds and it would be done. It didn't cost him a cent for us to be there. I had arranged this date weeks in advance, as he had said Saturdays were normally very slow at this shop. He didn't open up just for me to be there. It was Saturday morning and for the entire 5 hours we were there, he didn't have one customer ring, or come in the door. Nor was he working on any other car at the time. Rather he sat in his chair reading magazines for all of the time he was not actually welding and working on my car. I was never told it would cost me to use his hoist, nor about all the other "special" fees that were tacked onto my bill until after the work had all been done. He wouldn't even let me pay with my bank card, and only wanted cash. In fact it was his idea to use his hoist, instead of doing the work at home and then driving to his workshop. Add to that there were 3 hoists in his shop. We were using one, the other ones were empty. There's nothing insulting about it, which I find odd you even stated as such. You weren't privy to the conversations I had with this guy, what he advised me to do to save money etc. My doing the work had nothing to do with me trusting his workmanship, despite being royally f**ked by the first "specialist" I went to. It was a way to save money. He didn't want to touch the turbo, dump and front pipe anyway. He stated that categorically that he doesn't "do" turbos. I've been to several guys over the few few months and no one wanted to deal with it, or didn't have the equipment to weld stainless. I chose this guy based on my preliminary discussions with him, and what seemed his willingness to help me save money, buy having me do most of the labour. So maybe then you can imagine my being pissed off when I get the bill and realized I could have just paid someone to do the work for me. Heck I could have paid for a whole new cat and saved all the trouble of dicking around with the old one. By all estimates he told me it was going to cost me half of what the final bill was. I didn't go in there knowing it was going to cost me close to $400 to begin with. I wouldn't have bothered. His estimates and then final charges were miles apart. He wasn't honest once I chose to do business with him, or simply under quoted me when I originally went to see him. That's not my fault, nor is it insulting to second guess a mechanic after being f**ked over in the past by others. And you're right, the first guy's welds are the worst I've ever seen too. Sadly I didn't know and 5 months went past before I discovered how shit it was. I did go back to him and he said sure, I can fix it for you... for a fee of course! Not everyone has the luxury of having mechanics and others who are trustworthy and honest. Also I don't think I'm the only one who has been bent over either in dealing with these guys. All anyone wants is a fair go. I know I've had my fair share of crooks posing as mechanics, this only motivates me to try and learn how to do the work myself. At least then I know I won't be cheating myself. Good suggestions. However it's all done now, so not much I can do about it. I did have a verbal agreement for how much his labour was going to cost and he quoted me at 2 hours, which in the end was how much I paid him for. It's not his labour I feel cheated about, but rather the other charges I had no incling to even ask about until he fronted the bill. The only wanting cash thing, I don't know if that's a tax rort or a systematic thing in the industry. A windscreen guy I had fix a chip last week only wanted cash too. I could have driven off and not gone back. I only have $100 in my wallet anyway, and told him I'd have to goto the ATM to get the rest. I was honest enough to go back and pay this guy, and yet still feel cheated in the end.

And as the lifetime of a plug increases, so does the wear. Thus an old plus isn't going to perform as good as a new plug. The power increase I am feeling is obviously a combination of a better flowing exhaust, new O2 sensor, cleaning the throttle body, and new spark plugs. In terms of power difference with spark plugs alone, there's many folk on here who have stated they got a boost from going from one plug to the next. A good Iridium plug doesn't just give you a longer life than a cheap $1 copper plug. It gives you a better hotter spark as well. All I can state is my own personal experience, and after doing all of the above work, the car feels easily 20-30% better in terms of acceleration, response and zippyness.

This guy never mentioned anything about insurance or the like. Had no problem with my friend and I being under the car working on the exhaust. Just about all the mechanics and shops I've been to lately I've been able to get under the car. The first exhaust guy had no problem with me looking under there, the tie rod mechanic too didn't mention anything either. I was more than happy to pay for the labour charges and the work was very good quality. But it wasn't until I got home and looked at my receipt and saw it simply said parts and labour for $x and didn't even list what was done or how the price was broken down. It cost me $375 for 2 hours of his labour, and 10 hours of my own and friends labor. Even rounding that up, that's $200 for his labour, and $175 for basically bolts, hoist rental (found this out when I went back to him), so he charged me an hourly rate, then double dipped with a hoist rental on top. If I pay someone an hourly rate, I don't expect to then be slugged with fees because they had to use this or that tool. That's common sense it's included in the hourly rate. Then got charged a shop fee (I have no idea what this is), when we brought and used our own tools and didn't leave a scrap of mess and even took our soft drink cans with us when we left. The whole idea of going to this guy in the first place was to keep costs down. To do all the work of taking out the old dump + front pipes and cat, then install as much of the new stuff as we could before he could finish things off with the final welds etc. That was my understanding from the get go, do the grunt of the work myself, he'll then just charge me a few hours of labor. I'm not sure if you're referring to the first guy I went to or the second. The first guy I went to, I had no idea he had done such a lousy job. I wasn't until 5 months later I found out, I had a flange missing, and had a frankenweld muffer system. The second guy's work quality was very good, but rather it was the way he hid fees and charges and wasn't straightforward in what it was going to cost me. I went to pay with card, and he said no, that's a cash price, so you can probably guess he isn't going to be giving the taxman a cut of that sale. You are correct, if something isn't right you don't pay to begin with. But at the time, things were rushed, as he was rushing us out the door, and I still had work to do on the car at home before the day was out. But lying in bed that night, I realized hmmm, this guy had overcharged for things and successfully got me to pay more than the job was worth. Some business do that all the time. They present a bill, and if you don't confront or challenge it, they get more money out of you. But if you do find fault with it, they then go oh, my mistake and correct the price to a lower amount. I've had that happen quite a few times in many different situations. Anyway, at the end of the day it's my fault for not being more on it at the time. I should have challenged things more, but it was presented in a way that at the time it made sense and being that time was of an issue, I trusted what was being put in front of me, and not my gut. So lesson #1, don't trust anyone.

Can you post a picture of your trans cooler? Am interested to see what's out there as I think I'll have to replace mine in time as I continue to improve the performance of the car.

Ash, I had both my front tie rod ends replaced plus a front wheel alignment for $129. That's parts, labor and alignment. I too think this mechanic is trying to rip you off. Best bet is to find the part yourself from an auto parts store, then find a mechanic who is willing to install it for you. Then take it to your wheel alignment place, or maybe the mechanic can do this as well. Either way, the more research you'll do, the better informed you'll be. Pretty much all mechanics will give you a free quote and assessment, so why not take your car to several places. I do this all the time, to allieve my fears of being ripped off. As far as parts go, the oem ones sold by Global Auto, Super Cheap, Autobarn etc., are in most cases just as good as the genuine Nissan parts. And often at a huge fraction of the price.

Very interesting. I must admit I do like the idea in the first photo of the rod being pulled in a place that doesn't put too much stress on it. The actuator itself looks like something more suited to being installed in the boot. Maybe that's what it is, is a boot actuator installed in the door. Other than that, yeah it does look like a bike brake cable. If it's now working, and doesn't give you anymore troubles, I don't see the need to replace it. It's been working for you so far, so now you know what went wrong and made an adjustment, keep on trucking as they say.