Ekona

All of those can cost a bomb to run. Double your budget and get something more reliable?

Very possible. It's a 5 year old car, my slave and master went on my Revup when it was but a mere four years old. Bleeding the clutch is a pain, but your garage could well be right. Change both slave and master together, the parts are peanuts compared to the labour.

Surely that would be better than getting pulled and given 3pts? Ask the question, get it tested, if it's fine then you'll never have to worry again.

What cleaning products did you use? And black is fastest, but blue is best

Straight away, really. It will change fractionally after settling, but masses after changing springs. I wouldn't bother doing it twice unless you're loaded. Go somewhere that can do you a proper setup, not just £40 to get back somewhere within Nissan specs.

Genuinely, don't bother. They won't cover clutches anyway as they're wear and tear. Worst case scenario is the engine breaking. £1500 and you're back in business, so it seems a waste of money to look at warranties for the kind of money you're looking at.

This. Obvious, really.

Buy cheap, buy twice.

Good pics, especially pic4. I hope you waxed it as well after all that polishing

However, you may or may not have noticed that the Admiral group have no disappeared from the comparison websites. The reason? Their prices have rocketed up about 30%, and are no longer the go-to bargains they used to be. One can only assume this is because, as I said a couple of years ago after someone pointed it out to me, that they've now got their massive market share they were after and are now targeting the I-don't-bother-searching-at-renewal-time people more than ever. Look lively kids, insurance is about to get much more expensive for those that relied on Admiral group for reasonable sports car insurance.

Those blue ones would look horrid, sorry dude.

See, I'm a genius

Good price for a trade in, take it.

Any of the Zeds are fine in the winter, you really don't need new tyres as long as you're sensible and drive to the conditions. Well, unless you live in the mountains or on a farm and have a lot of rough ground to cover through thick snow, then clearly they're not great. But then, no normal car would be either.

It used to be very hush-hush, but it's a bit more open now in terms of what you can talk about on open forum (think Fight Club! ). It's held at Bruntingthorpe, and it was £200 when I did it. They've got proper timing beacons there and apparently they're much more accurate now than when I went, as they didn't work sometimes and you had to go off your speedo. They are getting more popular and so spaces for normal cars are much more limited I think, but you can't win the lottery if you don't buy a ticket

VUS have much less outright grip than the 050A. It's the 040 Bridgestones that are no good, the 050A is a great tyre. You've currently got a car with lots of grip at the front and not a lot at the back, relatively speaking. It's going to make it very easy to oversteer, which is why the TCS is kicking in frequently. The VUS is a good tyre, particularly in terms of feedback, but it's not as good as the 050A in everything else. Either match the fronts and accept lower grip levels with a lower cost to replace them, or get another set of 050A for the rears.

What have you got to lose by asking? Be polite, understand the ethos of the Vmax days (i.e. it's not for idiots and you'll get short shrift if you are one) and you never know. It's a business after all, and some days there aren't enough supercars to fill the gaps, so you could get invited. I mean, mine's only a cooking 911 and I had a great day there, just check the leaderboards for an example of some of the lower power stuff that turns up.

If you're only after lowering, go for the springs. They're good quality, and not knowing what those dampers and springs (they're not full coilovers as the rears are separate dampers and springs, as per OEM) are like, I'd stick with what you know.

I used to use Gold Class, and would do so again if I'd run out and needed something from Halfrauds to wash with. There's other stuff I prefer (DJ BTM, for example, or CG MaxiSudsII), but GC is better than some.

Just take a trip down when Craig is running a Vmax day. Proper petrol head outing, always good stuff there to get a ride in. Ping him an email from the website and you never know, you may get an invite

I tend to agree with the clay and lube thing, but when the professionals tell you to use about 10x more than you were using it's hard to argue the case! That was the guys at Megs, and now using their method I can see why they were right. It's all subjective, if you're already using 10+ squirts of the QD on a section then you're doing it right. I only ever used to use a couple of squirts, which wasn't enough. With regards to not using the 2BM, by doing it your way you're creating swirls in your paint, I can promise that. If you don't rinse the cleaning mitt, then where does the dirt go you're wiping off? It will stay on the mitt, and the further you go round the vehicle the more damage you'll cause. Unless of course you're washing the car daily and it never sees the outside, then your paint will be contaminate free Even after one drive to and from work (so 30 mile-ish) I wouldn't use QD to wash the car with, which is a good guide as to whether it needs a proper wash or not. If you can wipe your finger over the car and leave a dust mark, then you can easily scratch it. Not teaching you to suck eggs or anything matey, you know your paint better than me, but the theory holds true regardless.

Good start, well written No need for snow foaming at all though, 2BM is more than enough. Also you need to mention that when using a jetter, you must make sure that the head is kept as far as possible from the car and always sprayed at an angle, NEVER straight on as you'll damage the paintwork. Personally I don't use a jetter at all, again a quick once over with a hose and gun attachment will get rid of the initial layer of dirt/dust. Also, with regards to claying I'd mention that you need LOTS of quick detailer. Most people don't use enough (I certainly didn't before I was shown how), and that can marr the paint if you're not careful. I too would change the products, but to be honest that's opinion and budget and certainly what you've selected is great for a beginner which is exactly who the article is aimed at. For a beginner, that's a great start. Good work sir, and just wait until a couple of years down the line when it becomes an addiction!

I actually prefer the looks of the Monaro to the VXR8, more sleek and less in-your-face. Interior is better on the VXR8, though.

Toyota are slightly better with the TRD parts for the GT86, but not by much. And the actual TRD '86 is a crock of a waste of time and money.