Duncan

ahh Merry Christmas Wayne

thanks mate, the SSB were what I was looking at too. I decided to stick with the current setup for reliability. and good point about different batteries Ryan, that is my understanding too...its why the expensive chargers have different modes for different batteries....I am not sure of the detail but there is something about both batteries being limited to the voltage of the lower battery when you charge, which is not sufficient for an AGM battery. I guess a single battery system with a lithium battery will be OK as long as the alternator's regulator charges high enough for what the particular battery wants.

and change that timing belt ASAP. no 20 year old car has only done 90,000klm.... BTW did you buy it from Edward Lees?

definitely not mine then, it was dark blue from the factory very unusual colour, I always liked it

turn car upside and shake until no further coolant comes out.

not impossible then....when it left me it had a bleed valve and lowered springs...I don't have a VIN to check but I always wondered where that reliable old bus ended up

BTW totally off topic, but is that my old car Johnny? I only ever saw 2 dark blue s2 in Sydney, the other one was Nathan Pilkington's old car

well that is the basic difference in 2 fundamentally different schools of thoughts about spring rates. The high spring rate/ light or no swaybar camp (eg MCA) use high spring rates to control both rear/aft and side/side movement. The low spring rate/ harder swaybar camp (eg Sydneykid) say there is benefit in using swaybars for at least some of the side/side because it does not affect fore/aft and it is more readily tunable. so yes, you would expect less traction out of corners from the high spring rate approach because there is less squat/less weight on the rear wheels and therefore less grip. Not so much of an issue with 4wd of course. btw braking balance is affected just as much by this sort of change; the right front/rear balance may change if you change the spring rates too

lol GTSBoy it's better that way

yeah bright red was the best of the stock colours.....I also had a limited edition gunmetal grey car and repainted it yellow (although a lot brighter than yours looks). enjoy the build BTW my Cima was R grade....a good repair job can be excellent value because so many people leave them alone without checking first.

Christmas is the best time of year for cool tools I bought kinchrome stuff for weekend use vs price, obviously there is better stuff if you are on the tools every day, but I've not broken anything yet. they have 2 lines of ratchets though, the basic ones are a bit crap but the nice ones are great. Oh I can accept it can be done....but not really "easy" right? I've been using the manual tool from earlier in thread and while it works, and in very small places, it is hard work. yep, they are totally f**king awesome. even in the garage I almost never use air I just grab the electric one instead.

you know, that's a damn good question....moved somewhere more appropriate

good to hear it was at the fitting really......making them was straightforward but there were things to check around the cut end of the hose and how far it pulls in while assembling that someone could get wrong. So far so good.. yeah I really need to support both ends I think, especially since its a big/heavy core

the oil filter is on a simple bracket of right angle 3mm steel (because I hate filter mounts that twist when you try and remove them). countersunk stainless bolts into the filter mount on one side and into 3 thread inserts on the car side. Nice and solid. the stagea mount is just to give a little clearance between oil lines and the engine, I think most people just do it rb30 style and bolt the relocator straight to the block which also works fine.

well based on my awesomely wide experience of 1.....yes I guess it depends what failed for you, hose or fitting, and whether the hose was in good condition or possibly damaged? I think enough people have used these types of fittings at all levels of racing to be OK with it. But it's a good reminder I should put some more padding around the hoses in a couple of places and monitor it for rubbing.

BTW interesting point about the cold, it was kind of left of every manufacturers' websites. The LEAF obviously uses Lithium batteries for the main pack, they come with what I assume was coolant...but maybe it is actually warmant for cold climates. They certainly work fine in places like Norway where it is 2nd top selling car behind tesla s (which also runs lithium)

Excellent, thanks guys that is exactly the sort of feedback I was looking for. I won't be touching one with a barge-pole....will stick with the Odyssey

no they've been good all the way through....good enough to win SAU Texi and 9th in the nulon nats motorkhana against cars one semis yes they are a little noisey which is what I expect from a performance road tyre. quieter than semis but noisier than your average camry

I'm sure you guys have checked it out, but how can a ball joint be "non-replaceable". Do you mean you can't find a ball joint in the right spec, or is it glued in with magic glue? a few skyline arms have been listed as having non-replaceable ball joints over the years but sooner or later aftermarket will do them in the right size....I can see why Nissan parts aren't interested when they can charge you $500....

we are running the Dunlop sport maxx on the Leaf and they are excellent road performance tyres (not race tyres of course). great grip for street use and they have lasted about 15,000klm and need replacing now. About $300ea from Tire rack.

thanks for the responses. I'll check out Braille too, I had looked at SSB. Yes they are not cheap, about 1/3 the weight and 3x the price of AGM batteries interesting question about A/hr ratings, I don't know what I actually need given it is race use. I expect the alternator to do all the work, I never lean on the battery except for starting. I currently use a 16ahr battery which claims 520PHCA / 170CCA at the moment and it is fine (Odyssey PC680). Might end up back there depending on what I learn

I can't see any reason why a properly wired in standard ECU would give you issues. It would get you going cheaply then from there you can go aftermaket plugin like powerFC or Haltech later when funds allow. standard ECU will start to be a problem if you start modifying; you will need to change it if you run more than about 14psi boost, larger injectors, larger turbo or larger AFMs

it sounds to me like it's been a tooth out all along. if you have the belt off now time to double check it all.

A little slow, but I added pics of my setup to my build thread: http://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/450937-duncans-race-car-the-most-overdue-build-thread-on-sau/page-8#entry7652588

there was a question elsewhere about the oil filter/cooler/thermostat system and I realised there were no pics in this thread. I have a large oil cooler where the a/c cooler is factory. Upside down to help it drain if I need to. Custom bracket bolted to the radiator support and I'm about to add another bracket between the bonnet catch support and the bottom (top?) of the cooler because I'm not happy with how much it can move when bouncing over ripple strips Removed the factory oil/water interchanger, mostly because they are impossible to clean once a set of bearings have been through them and they are $400+ to replace from Nissan. I now have a Stagea mount which angles the fitting nicely to an Earls relocator. Dash 10 Teflon braided lines. Remote filter locator in right guard between the intercooler hose and the BOVs Earls thermostat behind the reo under the headlight. This required a whole heap of fittings and strange angles. It also has mounts for temp and 2 pressure senders (currently factory and aftermarket gauge, I am changing the aftermarket gauge sender across to the haltech sender but the same basic setup. The thermostat requires a lot of fittings but I think it's worth it considering the range of ways the engine is used; driving to events, cold mornings, endures, hillclimbs etc. Close up Slightly better perspective of location Setup has been excellent, no signs of running either too hot or cold even in the most challenging times including 40o+ 20min rally stage BTW, anyone thinking of doing braided lines, make them up yourself. They are straightforward with instructions and care. The much bigger trick is working out how to mount and route everything because fittings take up a huge amount of space.