The Max

My trusted mechanic is Tunehouse in Calder St, Marrickville. He's the guy who did the ECUtek dyno tune on mine. I'm nearing the 85k mark for my motor and I'm considering getting the oil galley gaskets done as preventative maintenance when the time comes. Since my garage isn't big enough for such a task, I'm definitely going to be handing it over to him. You'll be impressed by how clean he keeps his workshop. It gives you the confidence he and his employees will look after your vehicle with the same pride.

Never bothered to try it because the infotainment system doesn't support FLAC. Yes, I'm an audio snob. Still, I have a few CF cards, given I use them on my dSLR camera. What do you want to know? I can try out some stuff for you.

Well, this thread was good for a laugh.

Strangely, when I had to swap out a flat tyre out driving a couple years ago, my wheel brace needed to be hammered onto the wheel nuts in order to get a grip of them. Turns out the nuts were all slightly larger in size, which explains why I managed to destroy one of them later when torquing it up with a 12-point Kinchrome deep socket and breaker bar I bought to replace the stock wheel brace. I never noticed this at home with my impact socket and rattle gun, other than me thinking that perhaps the socket itself was a bit on the tight side. I've since replaced that fancy deep socket with a regular hex socket to avoid such situations out on the road. The things we learn!! A bit of nickel anti-seize compound that I've used every time I do any refit of any wheel has always kept me out of trouble with both my vehicles, though after reading this, I didn't realise I'd also be avoiding any odd clicking on the V36!

This is true. I just like to avoid things that require me wearing earplugs. Even we drummers value our hearing.

Thanks for the offer but I kept mine after I removed them from the old rotors. They're safely stashed away in my well organised bits and bobs rack. The rears do not have anything like that because you have the parking brake mechanism sitting within the hub, so there's no point in the bolt having the purpose of helping the rotor off the hub because you've still got to adjust the parking brake shoes to retract them from the rotor's hub for removal anyway.

Scan tool would be handy to get whatever DTCs are being flagged. Otherwise, if it is actually trying to kick the starter briefly and then craps out, check battery voltage with a multimeter before and during that cranking. If the battery is in good shape, you should expect around 12.2-12.5V before cranking and no less than about 11V or so during cranking. If the voltage remains at the non-cranking measurement you made, then you likely don't have power going to the starter. Next, check the relay coil input to see if it is receiving 12V across its coil. If it is, check if the relay itself is indeed clicking and check the power coming out of that relay going to the starter. If you see power leaving the relay, then it must be getting to the starter but perhaps the starter has gone bad. If you don't see power leaving the relay, then it's a bad relay. We had another dude here have a problem with their starter relay, of which I believe there were two of them to contend with. From memory, they're like $45 a piece from the dealership or something but let's not get ahead of ourselves and just start with those basics.

That bolt came in handy for me because I could remove the spacer, then screw the bolt back in to pop the rotor off the hub.

The engine number can be seen on the driver's side of the block, close to the firewall and can be observed from above without having to remove anything. It's not absolutely obvious and easy but it is possible. I'll see if I can muster up some photos in the daylight tomorrow.

Looks good. How's the long-term support with this device? Do they have a roadmap to continue support for newer OSes as they come about? That's always the biggest with these phone-dependent devices.

Where do you fit it in our cramped engine bays? Forget what our buddy in Aussie Shed did. I'm not going through any of that pain. No way.

If you just want aesthetics, only mod I did was replace the axleback/muffler with a Megan Racing one. Nice note, not obnoxious, even elderly Japanese dudes respect it.

If it's more about producing a tasteful note, I recommend just replacing the muffler like I did, with a Megan Racing one. It's half the cost and has a very tasteful note that even old geezers would appreciate. I had to get my exhaust guy to cut off and replace those ricey burnt titanium tips with regular oval chrome tips. But, as Paul just said, beauty is in the ear of the beholder.

I had no idea about the service position either but then again, I never really needed to bother with any special positioning to safely replace the arms with the Bosch Icon types. In any case, not rocket science to work out without YouTube.

Correct, it's about multiple maps. A single map is definitely feasible but seemingly not all of us have ECUs with sufficient memory for multiple maps. Frankly, I find the multiple maps thing in these cars to be a bit of a wank but that's just my personal preference.