P Plate Performance

[nizmo da gizmo]

As a soon to be Probationary driver, what engine upgrades can i do to keep me under the legal law of driving my vehicle as a first year p Plater in victoria. Oh my car is a Nissan skyline R34 GT, thanks guys.

[central coast person]

none...

the fact is what they cant see does not exist, keep your car stock looking in the engine bay because the only mods you can do (i mean get away with ) are internal because they would never look and cant see through a engine

the only thing that would give it away is sound like lumpy cams and other parts that give distinct sounds when changed.

keep that engine stock looking is all i can say if you dont want attention.

[nizmo da gizmo]

Ahh thats pretty good i might get some mods in the future comming when on my P's.

Thanks for the info Andrew really appreciate it.

[N-DAWG]

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/-t238477.html

Pretty much sums it up

[and3_3]

You could do ecu or piggy back, suspension, clutch.

Usually with more power the car becomes more and more obvious, ie exhaust sound, turbo whoosh, engine roar.

So your choices are very limited.

[WIHAGTR]

Poor poor red p's... You're screwed, if your after super awesomeness save your cash for a turbo because ur n/a will be very very difficult to sell down the track...

[GTS4WD]

Turbo vs NA is not the end of the word.

Why can't people understand that?

[N-DAWG]

Poor poor red p's... You're screwed, if your after super awesomeness save your cash for a turbo because ur n/a will be very very difficult to sell down the track...

I thought that they'd be a bit more popular later on with restrictions and p platers wanting to drive skylines. Or maybe that would decrease the value of them with more in the market.

[and3_3]

Its done nothing but increase the price of them, since Nissan did not manufacture many of them there is a big shortage for the new P-plate market.

There are non-turbo's selling for more than turbos in similiar condition and k's.

Great for people who are selling, bad luck for people buying.

[Sandeep]

I am also a p-plater but lucky for me I don't have the no engine mods rule. But if I were in your situation, I would be spending my money on brakes, suspension and tyres. You will actually feel the difference in the way the car drives ie carry more speed into and out of corners (i am talking about track racing here), better stopping power so you can brake later into turns, better grip all round.

[SHANE666]

Im with Ian.

Save your cash for a turbo for when you can drive it.

Max I'll spend on my N/A is 2.5-3g's...exhaust, cat, turbo brakes and maybe some nice rims.

However if you got the cash, I estimate you can get a good 130-135rwkw without opening the engine too much?? Exhaust, Cat, Extractors, Adj Exhaust cam gear (~retard 3 degrees??), new fuel pump (if yours is dying), an effective Pod and CAI setup or high peformance panel filter, and some good quality fluids. New bits and peices here and there.

[R33_Dude]

^^^ - What he said.

Not only this but as a p plater you will be popping the hood for the police/transport/highway patrol more often than you could imagine. Extractors are blatantly obvious as are pod filters and exhaust modifications.

If you *must* put money into it a K&N style panel filter is a good option, and a cat back will look good and maybe give you a tiny bit more on the KW side of things.

I came to the realisation fairly early on that you can sink serious money into an NA skyline and at the end of it only have a (very) mild increase in power.

Save most of your cash until you get off your P's or if you must spend some money spend it on "sex spec" rather than performance spec.

Later on if you have a personal attachment to the car or bought it really really cheap, a high comp turbo build isn't out of the question. Or sell for a turbo skyline or similar import. Or there's always the RB25/30 swap that can be done for a reasonable cost.

Bottom line is being on your P's is one hell of a restriction for young people now. Hell, I remember driving V8 hot rods while on my P's. Like hell I'd get away with something like that if I was on my P's now...

[GTS4WD]

guh.. I dont see what all the fuss is about..

NA mods are generally hiden from sight anyways. No cop is going to arrest you for having an exhaust, P-plater or not.

It is possible to extract a little more power without going over the top and without it being obvious too..

Sort the intake and exhaust.

Cams, adjustable gears, piggy back ECU and retune and you could net yourself 120odd kw with a good tune. If your after power figures.

From what I remeber in your last thread you dont even have the car yet, I say drive it first with stock power figures. Many people want more power out of an na before they have learnt how to extract all the power out out of stock form,

[N-DAWG]

http://autospeed.com/cms/A_2351/article.html

This article might be of some interest. Whilst not specific to Skylines, it's still relevant.

It covers simple modifications that would otherwise look quite standard, but can help get performance gains without spending much.

[R TUNE]

ok i dont know much about the new p-plater rules due to being of my p's.

but from what i would req.

nistune ecu (if they have one for a r34 gt) it's a reprogamable bord that sits in side your ecu and alows for full tunning.

www.nistune.com cost is $250 for the bord in stalled and then get it tuned.

get some adj cam gears.

k&n pannel filter and maby change the intake pipeing for something of a bigger size.

and if you can get away with and exhasut and exstractors do it

and a cam thats not real lumpy or try and keep the exhasut realy quite.

thats my req brentt

[mad082]

*cough* buy a manual 3.5L magna *cough*

LOL

[Oo oO]

After i got the cat back on mine i did the intake, n crap me it sounds sweet n breathes wayyyyy betta, just aint pods illegal in NSW on Ps??? ... think its betta 2 wait till unrestricted then do a conversion or turbo if ya want max performance upgrades tho

[cuppas]

*cough* buy a manual 3.5L magna *cough*

LOL

pfffft, go some auto 2.6L magna

stock up on head gaskets, too

but why not make the car handle and stop better first?

[N-DAWG]

After i got the cat back on mine i did the intake, n crap me it sounds sweet n breathes wayyyyy betta, just aint pods illegal in NSW on Ps??? ... think its betta 2 wait till unrestricted then do a conversion or turbo if ya want max performance upgrades tho

Any modification that changes the performance of a vehicle in NSW on a restricted provisional licence is illegal, so I can't see that a pod will make an exception. I believe that in NSW for a pod to be legal in general though, it needs to be enclosed and correctly mounted with a pod brace.

That said, if you can mod something up to make an enclosed pod look factory, go for it. Unless you're really after the nice induction sound, use a K&N Panel, and if necessary run a cold air feed into the factory box. Besides the induction sound, I doubt you're going to find much difference to performance, and the Panel in the factory box with a cold air feed will probably be better. After all it is performance that you're after.

Edited October 20, 2008 by N-DAWG

[nizmo da gizmo]

http://autospeed.com/cms/A_2351/article.html

This article might be of some interest. Whilst not specific to Skylines, it's still relevant.

It covers simple modifications that would otherwise look quite standard, but can help get performance gains without spending much.

Thank you N-DAWG for that site it really helped, and thanks to everyone who posted in this thread. Now i understand more thank you.