R33 Kit Upgrade
I have a couple of questions that I would LOVE you to answer... I’m about to
buy a R33 Nissan Skyline turbo and am wondering if there are any performance
places in Melbourne that do kits. Any drive-in, drive-out deals for the
Skyline?
Hayden Moore
Australia
As far as we’re awarel, there aren’t any
workshops offering ‘kits’ for the R33 – each workshop uses its own combination of
custom and off-the-shelf parts. However, there are plnety of workshops
that will be only too happy to help you out – ring around.
Searching For...
Help! I live out in the bush, am recently retired and want a little car for
myself. Is there somewhere I can go to for info on cars? I want a 2 seater -
maybe twin turbo - that can handle country roads. Due to health costs my budget
for this is about AUD$20k. I have looked at Nissan 300ZX and the like and they
are very nice - but what other cars are there to look at? Sorry about my small
budget but life is life...
Alan Curtis
Australia
Hmm 2 seater, maybe twin-turbo, the
ability to handle country roads and up to around AUD$20k... The only vehicle that
fits that description is the Z32 Nissan 300ZX TT. Other vehicles to check out
are the Toyota MR2 (supercharged and turbocharged
versions), Supra single and twin-turbo versions, Soarer twin-turbo, Nissan S13
and S14s, R32 and R33 Skylines and maybe the Mitsubishi FTO MIVEC. Do a search
for each of these cars in the AutoSpeed search box – we’ve road tested pretty
well all of ‘em!
Holden v Ford
I find it funny that since the VZ Holden came out you have done new car tests
on the ute, SV6, Calaisand Monaro
[and now the Acclaim wagon]
. This compares quite favourably with the two years
it took before you did a road test on an XT Falcon. What’s happening there?
Evan Roberts
Australia
The reason for that is very simple –
we primarily test cars if/when the manufacturer makes them available to us! (The XT Falcon was hired, and an upcoming Fairlane test is also on a hired car.)
More on PC Shut-Down
Re the In-Car PC (Setting Up an In-Car PC, Part 1)
and auto shutdown, I suggest you have a look at the two websites below...
www.mp3car.com This site has a
great forum with a community willing to help. There is one forum dedicated to
power supplies, inverters and PC shutdowns.
www.digitalww.com This site
has a lot of parts that would be relevant to your in-car PC project. The DC-DC
power supplies have the ability to shutdown the PC - I personally have not
bought anything from them and had it shipped to
Australia, but a
lot of people in the mp3car forums recommend them. The also have a touch-screen
kit that you could use as a input device. Windows XP has an on-screen popup
keyboard that works great with touch screens. The touch-screen kit is not
exactly cheap at US$100.
Jeff Male
Australia
Spade a Spade
An interesting story on the new Holden Commodore wagon (Holden Acclaim Wagon).
You certainly call a spade a spade, but at least we get an honest opinion. I'm
hoping Julian is preparing to do some stories on restoring his newly acquired
Austin 1800 - the one car Ralph Nader
judged safe at the time. Keep up the great varied stories!
Rob Grant
Australia
A resto isn’t planned for the Austin – but you never know what might
happen...
Holden Wagon Nothing Great
Just finished reading your article about the ‘new’ Holden Acclaim wagon where
you did a 2500km round trip (Holden Acclaim Wagon).
We've just done Melbourne to
Sydney return with some travelling
into the Sydney CBD and clocked approximately 2300km in our 2003 Subaru Liberty
RX limited auto wagon (2.5 litre).
I have whinged to Subaru about fuel economy of this thing since we have had
it – it struggles to get 10 litres per 100km week to week (including work, daily
grind and longer country style trips on weekend). However with two kids under 4,
my wife, myself and all the stuff you take for 10 days away from home we
averaged 8.58 litres per 100km for whole trip - with cruise and climate switched
on for all but first 2 hours of the trip. In that leg – on a clear freeway and
in cool conditions – the car got 7.81 litres per 100km. (Sitting on the speed
limit where possible.)
Yes, it might be smaller and slower than the Commodore but in terms of
interstate cruisability it’s absolutely fantastic. Oh yeah, it’s also very well
screwed together, handles well, secure in the wet and has good resale.
Simon Brown
Australia
Re Digital Fuel Adjuster
Regarding the digital air/fuel mixture modifier (DFA) and hand controller... Do
they come pre-assembled or do I need to put them together myself? If so, will a
basic ability to follow instructions and electronic knowledge suffice?
Also, do you intend to do any articles on the assembly (if needed),
installation, tuning and results of putting this kit into a vehicle?
Compared to the price of an aftermarket chip this kit is rather cheap. How
does it compare features wise? Is it just basic or does it do everything that
the others do, particularly in regard to mapping points and ease of tuneability?
Would I be on track by suggesting that all that is really needed in addition to
this kit (including hand controller) is a nice safe bit of road and a proper
air/fuel ratio analyser?
I’ve been keeping a keen eye on this for a while, with my expectation that it
will make what was once a $1000 exercise (for an aftermarket chip) something
that is now realistically accessible.
Darren Smith
Australia
All kit assembly info, circuit
diagrams, operating features and tuning details are in the book High Performance
Electronic Projects for Cars - see the AutoSpeed Shop.
If you’re not confident constructing the kits, you can buy the DFA and hand
controller preassembled. These are going to be released soon (though obviously at a much higher
cost than the Do-It-Yourself kit). We have a 3-part series coming up on the use
of the DFA. As you’ll see, the unit is very easily tuned on the road using a
wide-band air-fuel ratio meter and yes, excellent drivability can be achieved.
Breathed-On Mira
I am using an AMR300 blower on a Daihatsu Mira 659cc engine and want to run
max power from the blower. What is maximum blower rpm I can run (pulley ratio)
and optimum engine compression for that blower and boost (running 98 octane
fuel)? All intake, exhaust, head, cam and fuel pressure regulator work will be
done. Any help would be much appreciated as I can’t source any of that info on
the ‘net.
Jamie Sotiroski
Australia
AutoSpeed is currently in the process
of a custom Japanese-import supercharger installation. If all goes to plan, you
should see this on AutoSpeed in the coming months. As you’ll see in that series, there are a
whole lot of aspects to be taken into account! It’s impossible for us to suggest the maximum
blower speed and boost/CR combo because there are so many variables. In any
case, we suggest starting with mild settings.
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