Nightcrawler

hehe I was just having a friendly stab .... we get along just fine I am still under the impression that Kahli didn't take the advice of many people's posts in this thread to change the meet spot from the MySpace advertised one. If that is the case (which I think it is) then it will be an interesting cruise. That is all .... didn't think I was being particularly negative - I even wished you luck!

Good luck to everyone going - every idiot and his dog is going to turn up to this one, and it is going to be wild. When the cops get involved look out.

that pink paint job is just hideous - and nos on a GTR???? .... what a tool

I have Dan's old series of blue leds and 2 are completely dead, and 2 flash intermittently. They have done this since they were in 1 month. Something to do with incompatible/not constant voltages, which has been addressed in his latest batches (of which I have some I must install when I get a spare hour).

^^^ wow that Porsche is SUPER fast - the speeds it takes those narrow streets and corners is simply insane!

yeah you will get a hefty refund. The 2nd job has to tax you are the marginal rate, on the presumption that you will reach the highest threshold in your 1st job. I am sure you would complain much more if they had taxed you on your 2nd job at normal tax rates, and then at tax time hand YOU a hefty tax bill.

^^^ yeah so it would seem. I wonder if the Lala scrutineers are aware of this new style of certification, and whether or not they recognise it.

true, wise words Guy. A slightly extreme example (20km/h vs 60km/h) but I agree with, and understand what you are saying; cars are quite forgiving and the fatality vs injury rate is actually quite low - whereas on a bike the fatality rate is not that far off the injury rate. And Reuben, the thing you have missed in all of this is that NONE of the people this post was aimed at drive competitively - and as I said these helmets are definitely not recommended for real racing. The purpose of these cheap helmets is for us SAU guys to wear at Mallala on public track days, where 1) you are not actually allowed to go that fast, and more importantly 2) you are not really allowed to pass other cars (if you do it has to be slowly, on a straight or when someone has pulled over and waved you past). So in this frame of reference the chances of actually having an accident are EXTREMELY low (and I haven't heard of an accident at public track days period - let alone a fatality). As opposed to your talk about your on-track accidents, which I presume you were racing (or at least being silly). Just wanted to clear that up

I still have a virgin set of unpainted side skirts to suit an R33 Also have S1 standard coil packs, standard intercooler, standard radiator, standard fuel filler, stock rims with rubber, stock air box, and various other bits. All prices negotiable - I want to get rid of the stuff clogging up my back yard.

I remember fairly recently seeing an RAA study into accidents, that showed that planting trees anywhere near the roadside is a VERY bad idea. And I agree. Then they did the new Port Expressway which is a 90km/k zone down the back of Gillman/Wingfield/Ottoway (where the Elite Street Tuned cruise recently had 2 cars written off) - and proceeded to plant something like 500 trees along it .... idiots. As guy and Pete say: it's rarely the accident or speed that kills you - it is the hard thing you end up against that kills you the majority of the time.

That price sounds really good for a split dump, high flow cat and 3" stainless right through including install! A stainless split dump is $250-$300 and high flow cat $200-$300 on their own.

^^^ chicks on bikes are HOT

Ferodo DS 2500 - have great bite and don't overheat easily. And they were $30 for all four corners at 95% brand new off an Ebay seller who brings in cars from Jp and has to change the pads when they get here. They are a bit brake dusty, but then so are any decent pads. Also take a couple of brake stops to warm up, but only a short time then u r good to go. $30 and 1.5 hours of my labour = best deal ever imho.

I would agree with you Pete, except the high quality of the embedded sticker (might even be printed on the helmet) makes it look remarkably legit. Also, unlikely some dodgy Chinese businessman would bother putting a Sydney company name and AS details if the helmet were not so certified. yeah that is a very valid point - I will take my existing helmet (which has a silver sticker, yet only cost $100 from Kart Mania and to be honest looks of significantly worse quality workmanship than my new helmet) along as well and see if they both pass scrutineering next time I head out. oh hail King Sleddor - aka Pete the Knowledgeable .... yes he is a wealth of knowledge yeah can't agree more about the bus seatbelt thing - absolutely insane that our nearest and dearest (kids) would be packed like sardines into a big tin can and not given any protection whatsoever. I believe this has been remedied these days to some point - last your on the Greyhound bus to the Vic ski fields we had to wear seatbelts - safer, but makes it very hard to sleep comfortably. hehe I was actually thinking the opposite when everyone came out knocking my post - but some good constructive points have come out of the discussions. And for the record I do agree with what everyone has said in this post - the helmet I bought and let people know about is a play helmet, for very low volume play events, and should be treated as such. It is obviously not meant for bike riders or serious people who drive seriously fast, or do serious frequent events. If you fall into that category you should definitely buy a Shoei or something decent, as Reuben pointed out.

yeah mate, as I said very early on DO NOT WEAR ONE OF THESE IF RIDING A MOTORBIKE - it is just common sense to want a savagely over-specced helmet for motorbike riding. Not sure if you have seen it, but Jerry Seinfeld does an extremely amusing stand-up skit about the fact that humans discovered pretty early on in evolution that we do certain things in life (like riding a motorbike) that can result in us busting open our heads. So, rather than avoid these potentially 'head-busting' activities, we were smart enough as a species to invent the helmet to somewhat protect our heads, but not smart enough to completely avoid 'head-busting' activities altogether. Of course it is much funnier when/how he says it, but you get the idea. :D

yeah I hear what you are saying Rueben, however let's face it - you are 1,000 - 10,000x more likely to have an accident on the street than at Lala (given the relatively massive amount of time one drives on the street, factored in that most other drivers are farking hopeless/inattentive/too old to be driving/drunk etc). Now, on the street there are 1) no helmets, 2) no fire extinguishers/firies, 3) no full length protective clothes, 4) no scrutineers checking every cars tyres/brakes/everything else are fine, 5) and most importantly of all at Lala you are likely to hit a (relatively soft) tire wall, or gravel trap to take off some speed, whereas on the street many accidents are hitting cars coming the other way - or at least moving toward you in some respect. By your logic we should all be wearing $700+ helmets when going to the shops (which is where fyi the vast majority of accidents happen - within 10km of your home). Of course I am talking about cars here. Riding bikes on the street is just plain dumb, and everyone who does them has a deathwish in my humble opinio - and yes I realise I am going to get completely flamed for that comment - it is by belief, and I am entitled to it. Not one bike rider I know has not had some serious accident or near death experience on a bike - and it is nearly always someone else's fault (including you Reuben - I think I remember "councils poor maintenance of roads" as the reason for you coming off your Brutale). Yes I am a cheeky s.o.b Fact is, I am not going to spend $700+ on a helmet for the very occasional track day or drag day. Hopefully my air bag and 'dodgy' helmet will be enough if I need it.

yeah I agree - it is a weird looking AS certification - and like Pete said, the stickers are normally chrome and have security measures in them. That pic I posted was of the box, but the identical thing is actually printed on the back of the helmet, under the clear coat. It does explicitly say "AS/NZS 1698:2006 certified by Certifications Solution International Pty Ltd Sydney Australia ID 7026" - now surely AS is Australia Standards, and as it is from a Sydney firm you would assume it is legit and not some overseas specification. Surely in their AS certification they have to break many of them in testing and prove they are a good helmet and meet regulations. Gives me a lot of peace of mind. And regarding the price - they actually retail for $100 - this cheap price is just a super online deal - these helmets were $49.95 plus shipping on DealsDirect (which is a cheap price to start with), and have just been reduced (presumably to clear stock). They are not really a $35 helmet - they are a $100 helmet that I have found for $35 - hence my reason for posting.

Here is a pic of the AS certification on the box (and is on the rear of the helmet). So they MUST comply with Australian regulations/standards, hence MUST be safe.

I presume you refer to the common misconception, that if you bust into a higher tax bracket, then the whole amount of your income is taxed at that rate. This is incorrect - effectively only the amount of money over the previous threshold is taxed at the high rate.

It has the AS standards thing printed on the rear of the helmet. Yeah I agree with what you say to some point - if I were riding a motorbike, then I definitely would spend big $$$ and get an awesome helmet. If you are drag racing at AIR or doing public laps at Mallala, then you have a maybe 0.001% chance of having a moderately serious crash, and even when you did, you would probably not even hit your head anyhow, so these helmets are fine IMHO. Few who go to Lala once a year is going to invest $250+ in a decent helmet - these are the next best thing. And fyi - if a helmet cracks in half then it has done its job - the helmet is supposed to take all the force and crumple (to some extent). If a helmet stayed 100% rigid, it would just break your neck when you hit something hard. They are single accident items, no matter what the brand or cost of them.

Sounds like a good price, but does it include a high flow cat? Stainless muffler or resonator? Do you know exactly what it is going to sound like? And what volume it is going to be? If the price difference isn't massive I would go stainless every time, as it will last a lot longer. If you want to be prudent, get them to change over your turbo exhaust housing studs while they do the job - can save you heartache down the track. I have the cheap-ass JustJap intercooler and it works great. Not sure if it is cooling pro or not. If the one you are looking at hooks up to stock pipes then I would assume not. The big problem with a cooler that joins up to stock pipes, it that it presumably has a long pipe running the length under the intercooler back the the stock pipes - these can hang below the level of your bumper bar. If the one you are looking at doesn't have that pipe, then they are bugger to install - you have to cut a hole in your engine bay wall for the return pipe, lose your air snorkel, and trim your clutch fan blades. Either way you are almost certainly going to have to trim your reo bar, and will definitely have to trim the inside of your bumper bar, to fit the cooler in. These are not difficult jobs, but not for the faint-hearted either. If you are not pretty strongly mechanically inclined, then I would pay someone to fit it. A pile of SAU people had a go at installing a members intercooler one afternoon recently, and from memory didn't actually complete the project within a day

Hey, I just bought a cheap Aus standard approved helmet off DealsDirect. $35 including shipping - and best bit is they sent me the $49.95 + shipping helmet - not the one pictured! (Not that they look vastly different anyhow). I know we currently don't have a drag strip, but if you ever plan to drag or go to Mallala, these are a very cheap option! I just bought mine as a spare - for $35 you can't go wrong! Deals Direct helmet They send you a random colour - mine is red so I am happy. Also comes with a fabric helmet bag!

I will be there!

haha I was assuming your big news was that you have actually bought a turbo Skyline /(just being cheeky)

OK I have had enough of this thread. Nathan was a bit of a tool, and a bad boy. He has been banned from Kellie's cruises indefinitely, and I gave him a 1 week holiday from posting on SAU. Crime and retribution has been served. Thread closed.