Warpspeed

Well If you drive a late model Skyline that was never sold by Nissan in this country, it is quite probable that your local Nissan dealer is not going to have documentation to decode the VIN, and be able to just quickly whip around the back of the parts store and produce the exact key you need on the spot.

If you are on a strict budget, I would go for the cheapie stock GTR injectors and the Haltech to start with. Later you can always flog off the injectors to someone else, and get something a bit better. Getting a chip may be cheap now, but you will never be able to sell it to someone else later. Money down the drain in my opinion.

Some very wise words from Nismofreak. A lot of guys have done this, and I already have the full six throttle body setup myself ready to go onto an RB25. In my opinion it is by far the best and neatest solution. Beware though it comes in several pieces. There is the plenum, three dual throttle bodies, a short inlet manifold which holds the injectors and thermostat housing, and the fuel rail. Make sure you get the lot together though. There are people replacing the six throttle body setup with the Trust super plenum, and large single throttle body. You see the plenum and six throttle body setup advertised for sale, sometimes with a fuel rail, but never with the inlet manifold part. Some poor bastard will buy this, and then find he is missing a vital part which is difficult to obtain separately.

Standard GTR injectors are pretty cheap, because a lot of people rip theirs out to upgrade. I have just bought a set of 550cc high impedance injectors for $125 each. You may be able to do better if you are in no hurry, but I have never seen them go for below $100 each. The law of supply, and demand in action.

Nizpro in Melbourne make an inlet manifold top half that has the throttle body at the front. Sub Zero in Queensland can supply a similar (but different) setup. If you can find a GTR six throttle body setup complete, this will also bolt straight on as well. I think you should be able to do any of these for around $A1,000 to $A1,600, or as you say, fabricate someting up yourself. The Nizpro system has long intake runners, about the same as the original. The Sub Zero system has a very large plenum with shorter runners. The GTR has very short runners, and a mid sized plenum. Which is actually best for power, and off boost throttle response depends on what else you do to the engine, and what you want.

Know what you mean about driving with no clutch. Years ago I broke a clutch cable, had to drve to the bank, then to the spare parts dealer. Cops in an unmarked police car pulled me over. Said I was driving erratically - er, well yes officer. They thought it may have been a stolen car, they were quite nice about it actually. Then right in front of them, off I went jerking away in second gear by turning the ignition key LOL.

Get the clutch fixed, and get it back on the road. The crook syncros may be a pain, but they are not going to prevent you using the car.

Eye laddie, I can quickly see the advantage of an inexpensive solution. But I think ye may have tae be in Japan. A bonnie day tae ye Highland Mc Scrooge.

But Joe, that is the problem !

Bolting the key behind the numberplate was used as an example to get people thinking, but I have actually done this myself though. If you use a stainless steel screw and a brass nut, with a shakeprook star washer, it will not vibrate loose. It will not rust up either. By twisting the key, the nut can be loosened quite easily. Try it and see ! Or maybe a brass wing nut. Another way is to attatch a long piece of stiff wire to the key and poke the key down inside a chasis rail, gearbox crossmember, behind the front grille, inside a hollow towbar, or something. If you can feel the end of the wire with your fingers, then pull the whole lot out. Use your imagination. Suerly you can find a place that does not require a full 250 piece toolset on a trolly to get at the key. Jeeeeez

What happens when they start to slip under load is that there is terrific heat generated from friction. The tiny bit of clutch material that is left wears extremely rapidly, leaving you stranded on the side of the road. It probably has a few short trips left in it though, just do not let it slip. Drive like a little 200 year old granny. If anyone blows their horn at you, just give them the finger ! Arrange something with your local happy smiling mechanic first thing tomorrow.

Me thinks that your next journey may require a towtruck to get it home if its that bad.

None of the car companies have been making any money for years. There are simply too many of them, the more they compete with each other the harder the game gets. They tried to merge (holden/nissan/datsun) but this only kept the game going a bit longer. Now if you owe the bank fifty grand, YOU have a problem. If you owe the bank five hundred million, it is the bank that has the problem. If you go bust the bank loses the lot. So the bank keeps loaning you more and more hoping the situation will turn around. Look at what is happening, One-Tel, HIH, Ansett, just to name three in Australia. They just disappear. In the US a couple of the largest major merchant banks JP Morgan, and Citibank are now technically broke. Mainly because of Enron and other disasters. When the big banks start to go, the whole car industry is stuffed along with everything else. This is going to be absolutely horrible. I know most of you are interested in cars, not economics, but this is going to effect everyone here.

Well I also have an alarm/immobiliser and steering wheel lock. Both front doorlocks are disconnected so a thief cannot twist the locks around with a large screwdriver. That is how I lost my last car. If I lose my keys, or the battery in the remote goes flat, my system is as follows. Get the spare key from under the car, get into the rear boot. Inside the boot I have a spre remote for the alarm to gain entry, and a spare key for the steering wheel lock.

Yes folks, I think this is as good as its going to get though. Apart from cars my main interest if finance and investing, and I have been watching some most disturbing trends in the car industry. As you might know, Japan has been in a worsening recession now for thirteen years. Europe is in deep trouble, and the US is going to fall over in the next couple of months. Several of the major car companes are so far in debt now, that they are going to have to shut down altogether if they cannot borrow more money. Subaru and Ford are probably the worst off. Just before the great depression in 1929 there were around 2,200 publicly listed companies making automobiles, or automoblie components in the USA. There were some absolutely fantastic cars made then, Cord, Dusenberg, supercharged Miller racing cars. Car heaven, just like now. By 1935 all but three manufacturers had gone totally out of buisiness. GM, Ford, and Chrysler survived. And the cars they made were crap. There were no more DOHC 12 and 16 cylinder engines, no more superchargers. All you could buy were flathead four and six cylinder cars with three speed gearboxes. And it stayed that way till well after WW2. So enjoy it while you can, high performance Japanese imports, cheap fuel. Lots of fun. Soon it will all be a memory.

Sounds good, send me a e-mail.

I can retrieve my hidden key in about two minutes without any tools. Its a bit fiddly, and I get my hands dirty, but its better than walking home.

o/k it looks like you might be up for one grand. But another way to do this might be to get another gearbox from an import wrecker, he might even give you a discount if you give him your old gearbox. Most import gearboxes were working perfectly right up the instant of the BIG ACCIDENT, so should be fine in your car. The wrecker will probably sell your stuffed gearbox to a gearbox reconditioning place. They will strip it, for parts, and charge the next customer for new parts (yeah I know !) It might save you heaps. The worst thing that can happen is your new gearbox also has a problem. In my experience import wreckers will take it back and give you another one. But be sure to get this in writing.

First get into the car, maybe a coathanger ? Then remove one of the doorlocks and take it to a locksmith on Monday. He will be able to dismantle the lock and measure the pins. From this he will be able to make you a key. If it works, get several made ! Hide a spare key somewhere under the car where it cannot be seen. Or maybe bolt a spare key behind the numberplate or something. Then one day when you loose your keys at 4AM, out in the middle of nowhere, in the pissing rain, with no money in your pocket, you will be o/k !

The other thing to check is that the guy OWNS the car. It may actually belong to a finance company. They can then legaly reposess it, even if you have paid for it in full. Best bet is to go around to the local cop shop, and ask a few questions. They will be glad to help especially if they are not real busy.

Surely though if the car has current registration in the guys name it MUST have compliance. But you are right though. If it does not smell right, run for the hills !

Very good point. Go a bit easy until it is fully up to temperature, and if its a turbo, allow the turbo to cool a bit before shutting off.

If you expect good fuel economy, the I feel there are realy two main factors. How and where you drive, and the mechanical condition and tune of the engine. If the compression is as new, the oxygen sensor working, and you drive sensibly then the economy should be reasonable. If the engine is stuffed and you thrash it, well...................

I thik Eric is onto something. It depends on how you treat it, that means how you maintain it as well as how you drive it. A bit of a squirt now and then on a well maintained car is not really going to hurt it. Thrashing the crap out of it with the oil level below the end of the dipstick is not going to be a good thing. Taxis and interstate trucks do huge mileages, and get driven pretty hard as well. The driver, often, is not the owner. But they do get regular service though, and last a very long time between rebuilds.

Hello again Lowlux. I am collecting bits and pieces for my project, which will be a supercharged 33GTS-4. I am still looking for a suitable vehicle though. Eventually I am going to have to fabricate a set of extractors for it. The pipe sizes on the Jasma extractors are about optimum for a normally aspirated engine, but far too small for a supercharged RB26. What grade stainless can you get, 304, 321 ? and what wall thickness ? I will need to buy a fair bit of this stuff, but cannot plan the exhaust until I actually have a car! Please e-mail me: [email protected]