bugster70

Amen to that. I'm excited about the upgrade and it ain't even my car!!!

Great write up Phoon, made for an entertaining read. Wow, the new Nizpro setup sounds incredible. Just when I think I've reached where I want to go with the car (it's only a T, not an F6), I read a story like that and my mind starts wandering. Maybe best to save such thoughts for if/when I have a better base to work with (the ZF 6 speed would be a great start, for example, whether it be in a Phoon or BF T). Like you, I also have to contend with a very wary Minister for Finance and I think I've pretty much stretched every boundary I can! Meanwhile, I'll continue to enjoy write ups like this, thanks for taking the time. BTW, what part of Canberra are you in and what does your car look like (I'll make a note not to take you on if I see you!!)?

Hmm, okay, I think I know who you're talking about. I gotta say, I HATE it when people in a 'position of trust' abuse, or at least manipulate, that trust. I mean, the guy you spoke to is a qualified mechanic and you'd expect to get fairly solid advice from them when you ask a question about cars they are tuning. If they don't know the definitive answer, what's so wrong about saying, "sorry, I don't know, but will either find the answer out for you or ask Glen when he gets back"?! Off topic a bit, I read a bit about Dingah's starting issues but can't recall/didn't read the final conclusion. Could it be something to do with the fuel lines deteriorating? I remember reading something about guys fitting new (Walbro) in tank pumps having incorrect (non submersible) fuel lines that were perishing?

Jimmy, please don't tell me that that was Glen who told you that?!

Hahaha, not ANOTHER colour wars thread!!! I've got HgAg, love it (but I'm a conservative old bugger who doesn't wanna attract too much attention thankyouverymuch). Previous car was black, loved that too (but, as others have said, 'twas a pain in the behind to keep looking its best). If I had plenty of time to wash/pamper the car, I'd choose Ego (out of these two options). Based on my current lifestyle, HgAg would be my pick. Sure, plenty of 'em around, but there are plenty of ways to personalise your car without having to go for a colour that will date faster than Paris Hilton.

Glad to hear you found what you were looking for mate!!

Mate, the best bit of advice I can give is don't buy a 250. I haven't looked at it recently, but the LAMS (Learner Approved Motorcycle Scheme?) initiative is what everyone has been talking about. It allows you to buy larger capacity bikes when you're on your L's, as long as they don't exceed a predetermined power to weight ratio. I think NSW has a 600cc cap on capacity too, but I know when I was looking to buy my first bike in the ACT there was no capacity limit and, stupidly, a learner could have hopped straight onto a big, heavy Harley as a first bike!!! :yuck: Anyway, I reckon you'll get bored of a 250 very, very quickly - the power is generally peaky, you have to rev the nuts off them to get their best and insurance is generally high. One of the most powerful bikes I could find when I was looking for my first bike was an ER-5, and to this day I still say it's one of the best learner bikes you can buy. The GS500 is similar but, being quite narrow in the tank, looks a little feminine for my tastes. For the posers, I know Ducati did a LAMS bike (the 620 Lite?) but that has now been replace by a larger capacity machine that doesn't meet the LAMS requirements. The ER-5 offers much more mid range urge (far more comfortable for doing any sort of longer distance riding on) than 250cc machines and has to be one of the easiest bikes out there to ride. Some of the sporty 250's also have absolutely dreadful turning circles and can be quite twitchy and difficult to handle at slow (walking pace) speeds. Hope that's of some help and good luck mate, you'll never look back once you start riding (unless you have kids I suppose!!! ).

Now I don't wanna open a can of worms here, but unfortunately I think there is still too much racism in Australia. I was born in Malaysia to an English father and Chinese mother, moved to the UK when I was a child and came over to Oz in 1989. Today I consider myself as Aussie as the next bloke and am intensely proud to call Australia home (even if I do still have quite s trong Pommy accent). I feel deeply patriotic to Australia and am passionate about our sporting teams (much to my Dad's dismay, I was beside myself with excitement during the recent Ashes series and was absolutely ecstatic when we won 5-0). I've even had heated debates with my immediate family about why I am quite so loyal and proud to be an Aussie. However, having a Chinese mother, I do look a little Asian (obviously). And, much as I don't want to say it, I have been subject to occasional racial taunts, abuse, etc, from 'white' (for want of a better term) Australians. This was much worse when I was a little younger and, admitedly, is quite a rare occurence today. I do feel, though, that had I been in Cronulla on that day, I would have stood a good chance of being beaten up purely on my Asian looks, despite feeling the way I do about Australia. And that's what makes me really sad. I know I'm talking about a small minority, but I don't think that that sort of behaviour (open racism) can or should be tolerated. Sorry for the off topic rant, it's just a subject I feel quite strongly about! As for the BDO, if I were going, I'd be taking an Aussie flag.

Well that's very odd, 'cos that is most certainly NOT my understanding of how it works. So, assuming what Brodie told you was correct, how do we explain the $75 saving? Is he saying that if you load the factory tune back into your original car you won't have to pay the $75 unlocking fee? If so, I'll go out on a limb and say that that's incorrect. Your box will still be VIN locked to your original car, it will still need to be unlocked to work on your new car, and you will lose one of the 5 lives in the process. The only thing I can think of is that CAPA now have the ability to RESET the box, which previously only SCT in the USA had?

Check out this thread I posted waaaay back in August 2005...

You don't muck around, do ya Rob?! What's next then?

On the face of it, that's a pretty good result , crans, assuming you have safe AFRs etc. But, as those who have gone further down the mod track will know, it's not all about the peak power figure. A car running 260rwkw on stock injectors will feel very different to drive compared to a car making 260rwkw with larger injectors, for example.

Allan, I really do take my hat off to you mate, that is an awesome achievement so far. I thought you knew what you were talking about when I spoke to you about my side airbags!!

Just thought I'd post an update to my previous post on how loud the system is. I was told by a couple of people that the hot dogs would get quieter after time, and to be honest I was a little skeptical about that. However, quieten down it certainly has. It is now noticeably quieter than when I first got this mod done and is down to a level that I am perfectly comfortable with. Still a little noisier on cold start, but nothing like it used to be, a little noticeable under light throttle applications, but still retains a nice bark during more spirited driving. I can now understand why those that have done the hot dog (vs straight through) mod may think it's too quiet, but for me it's just about perfect. Nice and rorty when needed and not too attention grabbing for general city driving.

Well, it's pretty widely accepted that the cat is the biggest restriction in an otherwise very good stock exhaust system (next biggest is the centre muffler, which I had replaced by twin hot dogs at the same time). By freeing it up you should gain a few extra rwkw's, but it's probably best to get another custom tune to make sure the rest of the system is coping with the freer flowing zorst. My limited understanding is that complications can include things like overboosting if the tunes are designed to run with a stock zorst. I think the real benefit is that it will make the most of other mods you have done and largely remove the exhaust system from the equation as a restricting factor, unless you're chasing really big power. I think the decreased backpressure helps out with/eases the strain on the valve springs (if you've still got stockies) and turbo too. One other thing I noticed, and I assume that it's as a result of the better cat, is that the turbo seems to spool up a fair bit quicker than before too. Can anyone confirm if this is a normal side effect of a freer flowing cat? All in all though, I'm very happy with the zorst mods I've done, especially as I've managed to retain a stock look.

Thanks Skooby. Yeah, BT, I would steer well clear of any exhaust shop that says they can't incorporate a 3.5" MetalCat into the stock system, it really is a relatively simple thing to do. The only real 'complication' is at the exit end of the cat where, as already mentioned, you will need to mate the 3.5" SINGLE outlet of the cat to the TWIN 2.25" pipes of the stock system. A simple y-piece will do the trick. As I said in my other thread, the exhaust shop I went to isn't known for being cheap, and it still only cost me $180 to have installed (on top of the cost of the cat, of course). Sorry, I haven't taken any photos of it installed, but ANY decent exhaust shop should have no trouble comprehending what is required. Hope this helps.

Skooby, just doing the centre section is a relatively cheap exercise. I paid $240 for the pair of resonators (installed) and I don't think that that was a bargain by any means. Straight through pipes would obviously cost a fair bit less. Pretty good BFYB IMHO. I didn't change the oval tip either, I am going for a stock look. I also paid an extra $180 to have the MetalCat installed, but that included having a y-piece inserted to mate the 3.5" outlet on the cat to the twin 2.25" stock zorst.

Just seen this thread. Congrats Rob, looks the goods mate! Can't wait to hear how you go with your mods, it's gonna be one helluva tough GT. Sorry to hear about the Modenas too, if I had some spare cash lying around I'd LOVE to take 'em off your hands (you know how much I was drooling over your wheels ), but somehow I can't see Jo agreeing to an upgrade...

Well, having just done this mod myself I thought I'd give some feedback from my perspective. I was paranoid about getting any drone at all, so opting for the hot dogs wasn't really a choice for me. And I'm VERY glad I did! The difference in sound, to my ears anyway, is stark - the car now sounds MUCH louder and I can only imagine how noisy it would be with straight through pipes. Having said that, I did also fit a 3.5" MetalCat at the same time, so that would also be playing a small part in the increase in exhaust noise. Is it too loud? Well, maybe. It's certainly quite obtrusive on cold start, when the idle is a little high - the noise in the cabin is very noticeable. Once the car is warm and the car is idling normally, I have to admit that you can barely tell the difference from stock. Under light throttle applications there is definitely more noise and it took some getting used to for me (I'm not into super loud cars any more!). Under heavier throttle applications it's very noticeable, but I do actually like that part of it - it definitely gives the car a more purposeful note, especially given its performance potential. As for drone, I'm yet to take it on a long cruise/on the highway, but I don't expect any problems from what I have experienced around town. In short, my firm recommnedation based on my own experience is to have hot dogs installed and not straight through pipes, unless you like a very loud, attention grabbing car.

What you laughing about Mick, anyone would think that YOU'D fitted a Wogcooler while one of YOUR mates sat back to watch/'help'!! :tosser:

Cool, must have been some misunderstanding then. I did ring CV and asked how much just to fit an actuator - they must have thought I meant supply and fit 'cos the answer was $400. That's good to know!

Adam, I guess it'd be hard to determine how much of a difference the larger dump made separate from the cat (I assume it was all done at the same time), but what were your reasons for fitting a larger dump if you were retaining the rest of the stock system? I mean, most guys keeping the stock zorst just opt to change the cat. Do you think you reaped worthwhile benefits by doing the dump too?

Actually, I was quoted a whopping $400 to fit it!!!

Thanks for the replies guys. Yeah, I wasn't so much trying to save $$ (and there's no way I'd attempt to fit it myself anyway! ) as time. But after this I'll just get it fitted at the same time as I get another custom tune done, just a matter of a) finding time to do it and b) doing it by my usual 'stealth' method so that the missus doesn't go apesh1t at me again!

Guys, there have been a lot of closely related posts on this but I can't seem to find a definitive answer to my question, so I'll try to be as specific as possible. Assuming you are already running (custom tuned) edit with other mods (including larger injectors, I/c, etc, etc) and you go and fit an upgraded actuator (let's say a 12psi unit), is there any need for a new custom tune straight away or can you drive around on your current tune quite safely for a while?