SimonB

LOL! Good one...

Yep, that's me. There's some pics of it somewhere on here. It looks good, and more importantly it attaches the straps at the perfect height and makes the straps as short as possible so they won't stretch in a crash. Well worth it, but you really can't use the back seats. You could always take the bar out if you need to use them I guess, and just put it back when you want the harnesses. I never use the harnesses on the road anyway, they are way too impractical. You can't move at all while wearing them, so you can't lean forward to look at junctions, can barely reach the stereo and you can't turn your head round to look when reversing.

Dunno, but if you have one of Arnout's manifolds (which I guess you do if you are needing to modify that DP) have you tried asking him for one of his pipework kits? They consist of a downpipe exactly like that one and pipe that goes between the manifold and wastegate. That's what I've got - Arnout sold me one of his prototypes. He said at the time that it might need a slight weld because some of them weren't a perfect fit but mine fitted spot on with no work. The other thing to remember about Arnout's DP and the one you've pictured is that they mate up with the stock 1st cat/decat goes and they have a UK/USA flange on, not a Jspec one. So you will need a UK spec 1st decat pipe too. I had a lot of trouble finding a 3inch one, but found one eventually in the USA from Random Technology. It was beautifully made and had a flex section.

Only if you don't value your life! That is FAR too steep an angle for the shoulder straps and would crush your spine in an accident. IIRC you shouldn't have more than 20deg lower than horizontal. The only proper safe way to attach them is using a proper harness bar like the Sparco one in Nick's link. You can leave the rear seats in, but you can't really use them because it's very hard to squeeze in under the bar and if you had an accident the rear passenger would crack their chin/face on it.

Because the wastegate doesn't get to the level it's rated to and then suddenly open, it opens gradually. With a boost controller you can effectively hold the wastegate closed until just when you want which means you build boost faster. Makes it easier to map too if you can hold it at different boost levels while you're doing it.

Surely you win "best use of cam covers" there for your BBQ stand, lol!

Get a stanley knife and carefully make 2 cuts through the insulation a cm apart at 90deg to the wire. Then make a lengthways cut between the two and you can remove the insulation in that section. You can then wrap your wire round and solder it on. I use a gas powered soldering iron.

Bugger, I thought the title of this thread was "Jake's round". Was gonna order a beer...

Depends what you mean by lag too. The lag that rally-style anti-lag systems get rid of is where the turbo slows down and drops off boost between gear changes. Then there's the delay you get before the turbo gets enough exhaust gas to spool up from low revs, which is a different thing. Anti-lag isn't going to stop that.

Hope everyone has turned over their calendars to see this month's fantastic pic...

You don't have to have a cat on any car, new or old. But you do have to pass the emissions test which is stricter on new cars and usually the only way to do that is with a cat. The new tests only apply to new cars, not cars already on the road.

Not having shims won't make your pads rattle, they are there to stop them squeeling, and taking them off actually improves the bite and feel of the brakes quite a lot. If you're missing the anti-rattle clips that could make them rattle, they are the springs at the back that go between the pins as Chris said.

Not true, gifts are still charged if they are more than 36 odd quid. The limit on non-gifts is about £18 IIRC. And to qualify as a gift it has to be sent from a private address. You pay import duty on the declared value plus shipping, and then VAT on that total. The amount of duty depends on what it is, there's a website where you can look it up but it's normally 5-8%. So if the value was £80 and the shipping £20 you would be charged import duty at say 5% which would make it £105, then VAT which would make it £123. Then you have the handling fee charged by the courier, which is normally £10-15ish. Obviously if the sender declares the value as less than it actually is you pay less unless customs open it and it's obviously undervalued, in which case they would impound it. Plus the insurance on shipping will only pay out the declared value if it's lost. That's what most places do though.

Yeah it was. I do have a stick-on plate on the front, but that would have been fine if the spacing had been correct.

Ah, a facelift pre-VVTi RZ 6sp in gunmetal, definitely the best model...

Just had my MOT done today, it's getting more of a pain! I use a "friendly" MOT place that pass it on emmissions despite being decatted, so that's not a problem, it's the other stuff. I already have to stick on some LED side indicator repeaters each year to pass MOT, this year it failed on the spacing on my numberplates! If you've seen my plates, they are standard font, size etc but there is a space between the first two characters so it says "R 500 PRA" whereas strictly it should be "R500 PRA". That's not good enough any more it seems! Apparently they now have a machine that measures the spacing etc as part of the electronic MOT. Not sure if this is the case everywhere now or just my local place, but they have no choice but to fail it. So, they had to make up two new plates, cable tie them on for the MOT and then take them straight off again. What a PITA waste of time.

I would recommend AGAINST the sprung hub clutch disk version of this (this is the one you would get if you have a solid lightweight flywheel rather than the stock one). Mine broke with metal fatigue where the springs are mounted after about a year/10000 miles. Looking at it afterwards you could see it was an obvious weak point. Shame because the clutch itself was great. I think the non-sprung one that you would get to go with the stock flywheel should be fine though.

That's right for JIC connections, they are named after the size of hose they fit, so -8 is 8/16th or 1/2inch ID. There are several types of thread and fitting, JIC is a parallel (i.e. not tapered) thread that seals with a cone shaped seat - this means you have to use a special dowty seal (washer with a rubber bit) if you screw one into a hole in something. Then there's BSP, which is the British parallel thread - basically the same as JIC but a different thread pitch so they won't connect up. They are named after the ID of the hose they fit, so you get 1/2BSP for example. Then you have NPTF which is a tapered thread that seals by using PTFE tape and tightning it up - the threads deform slightly when you tighten them. NPTF is measured in 1/2inch etc too, and you can use a 1/2NPTF male with a 1/2BSP female (not the other way round though). Those are the main ones, although you also get metric, which are given as something like M12x1.5, where that's the diameter of the male thread and 1.5 is the pitch. There's also a japanese standard NPT which is slightly different to NPTF, and theres a British standard taper thread as well but you don't get those often.

Just saw that, absolutely PMSL!

Hi John! Must admit once I'd taken the screws out I couldn't figure out why it wasn't coming apart until I realised it was sealed! Bit of leverage with a screwdriver sorted that Yeah, I've got a Motec M600 now. It's running really well apart from a bit of smoke on full boost which I haven't got to the bottom of. Think it's the oil seal on my turbo that's leaking a bit. Must come over some time and pick that jack up!

Here you go, front and back of that circuit board at slightly higher res...

What you have to remember is that aftermarket twin turbo setups are not sequential, they are parallel. So you won't get any of the advantages of the stock system (i.e. faster spool). That makes twin and single setups pretty much the same apart from the fact that twins require more complicated plumbing and are therefore more expensive.

Since someone was after some photos of the circuit boards of the stock ECU in this thread and I happen to have mine sitting here I thought I'd take it to bits and post some. Thought I'd better start a new thread rather than post them on that one in PHRs section. This is a 6sp ECU (non VVTi).

You should be able to get something similar from Halfords or B&Q or somewhere like that I would think.

PMSL at this thread! Genius...