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Now that I'm a little more awake I wanted to add a bit more feedback. It was past my bed time two nights in a row ;)

In a side conversation with Bobby, a couple of us discussed some of the various merits of the customisations and what it really does take to properly engineer a good combination. I'll paraphrase him but it was something like "if you think about the millions of $$ that have gone into the R&D for the stock Nissan RB components, it's pretty hard to beat them for what they were designed to do" (or about that effect). Of course we know limitations of production and cost, but he's right. We all know that if you want your Skyline to last and not break, leave it stock and take care of it.

But then the modifying bug hits. The skyline was designed as a performance road going car, so then we want to push it harder and harder thus needing more power, suspension, and the rest. It just happens to have race bred technology at its foundation. I mean how many 90's cars have a full girdle for the crank shaft - that was a race car only thing in the 90's!

And in extreme sports like ours, that question always hangs out there... "How far can we take it?"

Well, as we continue to learn that boundary continues to push and push. IMO (this is ERIC personally talking here) too many people are throwing around the 400kw goal trivally. I really applaud JEM for saying to be practical and upgrade your power in steps in progression. It was also good to hear the respect they gave to the 600kw "road car" sitting right behind them. That power level in a street car requires respect and a fair bit of driving talent.

And on that topic of how far can you push it? Without those really high end components you'll hit the limit where parts break all too quickly because of the original materials and design. It's far too easy to take for granted that if you want to build a 10-12k RPM RB monster you can go to the high end parts manufacturers and order them straight from the parts numbers in their catalog. It wasn't that long ago that if you wanted billet components you had to have them custom made. And then we have genuine racing replacement components such as oil pumps instead of full custom race components (e.g. dry sump) as the only racing option.

So it's great to hear of real world examples that could desmontrate superb reliable power on a stock bottom end. 300-400kw power is amazing level from OEM components (e.g. bottom end & head casting) that come from an era where "supercars" were making less power than that!

So, what am I saying?

Thanks to JEM for sharing not only their success stories but also the practical approach and level headed advice. I hope that some of those subtle messages got across. I was also truely impressed that they openly share the "secrets" that other shops guard so closely (such as e85 fuel tank piping limitations on R34's, and Bobby's truely impressive engineering build). And of course big thanks for putting in all the effort and support for a top notch night!

Thanks to Nitto for investing so much in creating high quality locally supported parts, and components that don't just meet the "average" build but go right up to the top levels of racing competitiveness. Andrew was clear that it might be the 1% that go for that billet crank, but it sure is gratifying to know that there are options there and guys that are building those extreme level machines that show just how potent this platform is.

So, back to the photos and banter.

Haha yeah well we found the R34 fuel restriction on my car Eric.

The fuel mod we made was this -

6o64tuG.jpg

If you look at the fuel hat you will notice the speedflow fitting sticking through.... This was the mod Adam was referring too.

Thank you for all the thank you's.

We also enjoyed hosting this tech night for sau. And it give sau members and exec a better understand who and what is JEM .

Also want to say a special thank you to terry you really a nice person 8)

Oh also andrew nitto great talk I had questions however he answered all them in his talk.

  • Like 1
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...

i'm really bummed I missed this! I hope you put another one on soon. sounds like a great night....

It was a great night. Andrew's talk on the material technology and tesing that goes into Nitto components was really informative. I learnt he's a fully qualified mechanic too.

Amongst a range of topics, Adam gave a great talk on how cars are strapped down onto the dyno affects the resulting figures.

+1 for another night.

Yes all the talks and inputs by JEM and Nitto staff were very informative.

Our next Tech Night is happening in 2 days time! Heasman Suspension.

I wonder if a full vid of each Tech Night should be made and kept in our Clubhouse Library?

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