Irish

I was hoping too but I doubt my CAMS 2S licence will be ready by then. What car club are you with?

Not much help there mate. I don't particularly want to drive the 90 minutes for a cruise I will not enjoy. Wearing out my $1k rear tyres and using 25ltrs/100km fuel to travel half of Perth to see if it is going to be a good cruise isn't high on my list of priorities. I want a quick spirited cruise through the hills. If that is what it is going to be then I am in. If not, I'd appreciate the courtesy of knowing it. I'm not trying to be rude, just practical.

Well all I can say after owning and driving this car these last few months is that the car just keeps on giving. I didn't think much of the GTR before I owned one but every time I drive it I fall in love with it that little bit more. Richard really did create an AMAZING car. The GTR was intended to be a Sunday car for me and I only drive it once or twice every couple of weeks. I have been to the drags a couple of times and had sorted how to launch the car with minimal wheelspin. It was also pretty popular in the staging area with plenty of people commenting on just how clean and straight it was. There is something to say about the classic lines of an R32 and the grey colour / 34GTR wheel combo is just stunning. As Richard has mentioned, I am sure that the car would do low 11's with a little boost/timing tweaks. At the moment it's conservative tune and power output is all I am willing to use. I love having a car that I just jump into and not have to worry about breaking. I will probably do a few of the WA speed events this year and hope to get to Barbagallo within a month. I did a superkhana a last week and wasn't competitive. What it did give me was a clear idea of how I need to improve the stock suspension to get the best out of the car. Once I get front camber/castor and toe settings under control I should have a very quick car. I have also decided to keep HICAS. I love the lack of understeer on my stock suspension and am very happy to put up with the nervous moments mid corner for the removal of understeer. The superkhana also taught me how bad mismatched tyres can effect car dynamics. I had brand new Toyo R1R's on the rear with my older RE040 street tyres on the front. All I got was phenomenal understeer and lots of noise every corner. Live and learn on that one. Here is some in car footage of my best run last week. http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=uMboMqvcB8A All in all, Richard honoured me with the purchase of this car and I will always be gratefull to him for it. It was as he described (better actually) and it did not dissapoint in any way. Whoever got the R34 would have got the bargain. Lucky sod!

Is this going to be a fast cruise? I'm not particularly interested in a hour of driving in traffic for 15 minutes of decent roads. Roughly where does the cruise end?

Man, that car is awesome. Who ever bought that car really did get a bargain.

Matt has a lumpy cam but when I think of him I get a lumpy pair of King Gee's (both front and back). I suppose I had better go so I can show him my true love.

Very interesting Sydneykid. I have been a long time subscriber to the UK GTiR mailing list and we had a factory nissan guy telling us all about it. I don't know if they were competing with 400+kw but I know that they were achieving these power figures. The CA is an awesome engine and certianly one of the most underestimated powerhouses around. Considering you can pick one up for $500 upwards I am suprised that there are not thousands of 1600's around with this engine conversion. Yes the rocker geometry of the SR is a little on the lacking side but with plenty of cheap fixes available (rocker stoppers) there is light at the end of the tunnel. I recently picked up a second hand set for $100 for my mate in Perth that is running a Stock S14 SR20 in his Rail. They are in the 7's with a stock turbo. Just out of curiosity, what block are you using? Yeah, the GTR and late model evo's are awesome cars but I still think the GTiR is better looking. I would trade up to an R34 thought. My mate just got one and it is very pretty. It is just not $60,000 faster than the GTiR so I think I will wait a while to get one.

My front LSD is a Torsen. The guy who supplied me my diff still has two left but they are not cheap. I think he is looking for $1600ea. email me at: [email protected] for more details if you are interested. On a side note, the diff cuts the GTiR turning circle down from 4 lanes to 3 lanes. I now have power oversteer at the push of my throttle. The launch is the biggest gain. No spinning up the front left wheel any more. It feels like the car has 50hp more power. Amazing is the only words I can find for the transformation.

Hey REXhoon, you seem to have a whole bunch of misconceptions about the GTiR. First of all, yes I do have a workshop manual and I have also owned my GTiR now for 8 years. I would be confident that I would have had one of the first 20 in Aus. The is not much that I have not touched on the car and I can put my hand on my heart and tell you that the lifters are solid. The sooner people recognise that the GTiR SR20 is completely different to every other SR20, the better. The block is even completely different with more butresses in the case and a different oil filter location. The BTCC Primeras were using a GTiR block in a naturally aspirated configuration to produce 400kw at the wheels. THERE IS NOTHING MAJOR IN COMMON WITH OTHER SR20's. Secondly, if you don't know the process of semi forging then look it up on google. Along with my semi forged nissan rods I have got semi forged pistons in my 4AGZE. You can do the homework on that one. Also, when you are going to be sarcastic you should make sure that you are correct to ensure that you don't look like a goat. As for all GTiR's having a front LSD diff........BZZZZZT, incorrect! Everyone with a little car knowledge would have made the connection I was refering to a LSD so lets not go down that path. I figure with your statement that you car would not have. If it had, you would not have sold it. It was an option and only some of the homologation spec (incorrectly called a Dakar by most) had them. A standard GTiR has an open front diff (in the transfer case), a viscous center diff (in the gearbox) and a viscous rear diff (rear axle). So like I said, if you have not driven with a front diff, you won't believe the beautiful handling of the car. Andrew M. even mentioned this in a previous post. He is now a 32 GTR owner and has owned both cars for around 5 years (GTiR) and 4 years (GTR). As for the weight distribution, Eibach (the spring makers) have said that of all the pre 00 WRX's they have corner weighed, they have never had one even close to 50/50 and the actual quote was that they were almost exactly the same as the GTiR. If these guys are not (at the very least) equal to whiteline in reputation then I will eat my hat. I have actually measured my car and it was a 820kg/420kg split. What was your car? As for the FJ20, it was almost a carbon copy of the Cosworth twin cam engine. Even things like cranks are interchangable between engines. The SR20 was a purpose built engine. Nissan had a whole lot of criteria to meet when they designed it and it was all done "in house". I am not saying that the STi is a bad car but I still stick with my opinion that there was no equal in that type of car until the 00 WRX STi. Bang for buck it decimates the opposition. Dollar for mod it decimates the opposition. Outright good looks it decimates the opposition. Anyone else want to take a shot at the title.

Yeah REXHoon, I pretty much agree with most of your comments. The GTiR SR20 does come with semi forged rods that are 2mm wider in the big end to accomodate wider bearings. The GTiR SR20 also has an oil stabiliser that is located in a different position to the other engines. There are also sodium filled valves that allow better heat shedding (work perfectly with AVGAS) and different cams from other SR20's. The flywheel / crank are different with larger bolts fitted. Many a workshop has been stung quoting on engine repairs saying that it is the same as any other SR20. While I agree that the VF23 is a better turbo I don't agree with the 1.1bar statement. The GTiR T28 has a solid Garrett thrust bearing and steel wheels that would allow much more boost. It is just that you are heating the air after around 16psi (and your injectors are at 100% too). I don't dissagree with you (I am using a VF22 core myself) but I think you are selling the T28 short a bit. It is the most powerful factory T28 ever! As for the GTiR top mount, it works fantastically (while the car is moving). It also has aproximately twice the mass of a stock rex intercooler. Unfortunantly, traffic lights, stop signs and slow traffic make life hard. Alloy A arms were available but are rare, as is a very effective diff package that was offered by NISMO. You obviously never drove a GTiR with a front diff because you would change your opinion of the handling. It is that dramatic! As for the weight distribution of the GTir v pre00 WRX, they are exactly the same with front weight bias for both. This myth of a 50/50 balanced WRX is as misleading as the myth of the lead tipped dart GTiR. The FJ20 had no real influence on the development of the SR20 and there is nothing common with it other than the 2ltr capacity. The FJ is still considered one of the stronger Nissan engines though. I have enjoyed the conversation WRXHoon and it is rare to find someone that can put a logical case forward.

I agree with you totally wrxhoon. What year was the V6? From memory it was late 90's and a GTiR is 89-93. One of the earlier Jap STi's ran 22psi stock but I can't remember which model. I just wanted to give a bit of a comparo between 2ltr engines of the day. With quad throttles, forged rods, solid lifters and the biggest factory T28 that was ever made, you must admit there is plenty of potential over its rivals of the time. You are correct when you talk about handling and I would much prefer driving a stock rex to a stock GTiR. I would consider a GTiR to be a"better" handling car than a R32 GTR though because of the short wheel base, constant 50/50 4WD and none of that shitty HICAS. I envy the EVO6+/STi/R34 center diff setup. As for the brakes, there is no defence there. They are CRAP, no two ways about it. Also, the shitty old 2 channel ABS works but is nasty. That is what you get with a car designed with 80's parts, pure and simple. My first mod was the brakes.

On another side note, Matt can confirm how hard it would be to get a perfect 400m with a great launch, no wheelspin on gear changes and not wheel spinning 2/3 the way down the strip. Matt has probably completed 50+ passes in his car now. It is piss easy to launch and accellerate the whole 400m in a GTiR.

The first run I saw (which was probably his 4th) was at 109. I have got 109mph myself in Darwin and I still have the slips to prove it. Even if I am wrong about kai's terminal speed you can't argue with the 12.8. He only has an exhaust/dump and electronic boost controller running 16psi on the night. It was a cold night but that is not going to drastically help a top mount like it would a front mount. Considering a STi is running anywhere up to 22psi to make the 130 4wkw's that a GTiR will make at 12psi (my car the day after I purchased it) I still think that there is nothing that is it's equal for the time. As for the silly comment about handling, come to Adelaide one day and I will treat you to the drive of your life in my "poor handling" GTiR. I have spent money on my suspension package but if I had to do it all again I could make a GTiR handle for around $1000.

I have pretty much got a stock car apart from a few simple mods: front mount intercooler Apexi AX56 turbo modified computer and Z32 uprated fuel system (surge tank, pump) full proflex coilover suspension BIG 4spot brakes Torsen front diff lightened flywheel The biggest performance gains were from the front mount and diff. I also gained a heap from putting on the TE37's. I have not run it at the drags in this config but I am confident I will achieve a mid to high 11. I still hold the lap record for a street car at Hidden Valley before the intercooler and turbo.