DTA (UK)

I have just been quoted very happy indeed but not by the people who advertise it on the telly. My insurance is up for renewal and the renewal invitation from my current provider came through a few days ago: £1078 for fully comp, declared mods, PNCD, 10K miles per annum. Did some shopping around (well, phoned about 8 companies) and couldn't get it much lower than £756. A few companies wouldn't even look at a JDM TT. Finally spoke to a broker, Academy Insurance Ltd, who were very helpful and courteous (got their number out of the back of EVO magazine). Rang me back and quoted £495 for exactly the same coverage as my (now) previous provider! That's a saving of £583!!!!!!! I checked three times with the chap on the phone that he wasn't quoting me for a UK-spec car and he assured me it was a quote for a JDM Fairlady Z32 (not Z31). Mods declared were A'PEXi induction, chip & boost jets and s/s cat-back exhaust. Wife is named driver on policy and excess is a very reasonable £350. Car is a '90 JDM TT 2+2 and I'm 33 years of age with full NCB. Car is kept in locked garage over-night and mileage is limited to 10k per year. I would strongly recommend anyone looking to renew their insurance to give these people a call: Academy Insurance Ltd: 0800 652-3963 (car will be insured through Highway Lloyds). They were good for my circumstances - I hope they are as good for other people as well. All the best, Dan >

Yes I did say that but to date I have been struggling with coming up with a suitable rental agreement and cost structure. These are expensive pieces of kit, especially if I am to rent it out together with a laptop. It's in the works but not quite there yet ... sorry. Dan PS - Dom, if noone offers to help perhaps we could meet somewhere half way and I'll do it for you (I would ask you reimburse me for my time and petrol though). Otherwise I can do it at the JAE show at the end of July.

Yes, it's just the static map held on the Nissan eprom that gets dumped with the backup.

Not entirely true. If you make changes to the fuel/ignition maps you can data log the different runs and compare the results. Then when you've found the settings that best suit your requirements you 'could' (if you had the expertise and equipment) write your own chip. There is a way to do this on the fly more or less permanently. You need something called a "Zemulator". This sits between the ECU and the ConZult and basically "overrides" the code that is on the Eprom in the ECU. It's an American product and has been used over there in conjunction with our ConZult with a high degree of success. HTH Dan

If buying "Wonder Wheels" make sure you buy the correct type to match the type of alloys you've got. They are very specific about some of their products not being suitable for split rim alloys. Further, this product is highly acidic and "could" cause damage to the wheel if the lacquer is cracked - so us it with caution. I will be reselling Meguiare products very soon and will be carrying their full product line (shampoo, polish, wax, clay, paint restorer, microfibre, etc, etc). They also have an alloy wheel cleaner which is pH neutral and comes highly recommended. Will post up details in the DTA section once all the legal bits have been sorted. ATB Dan

It's a useful site but isn't it strange that no matter which reg I put in the car is always manufactured on the 31st December of a particular year?

The tyres would be too narrow for the rim - so I wouldn't recommend it.

John - I don't think we've got this in our assortment. You'd have to check with Eric whether he's got it over in Holland but I know for a fact that I don't have these in stock (never have actually). Danny

If you are running on standard spec rims then there are only two variations you can do due to the width of the rims: If you've got J-spec rims (ie 4 of the same width all round): Front & Rear: 225/50R16 (all rims are 7.5J) If you've got UK-spec rims (ie 2 rear rims are wider than 2 front rims): Front: 225/50R16 (rims are 7.5J) Rear: 245/45R16 (rims are 8.5J) I wouldn't go and put wider tyres on standard rims - not a good idea. Dan

That'll be me ... I have taken over production and sales of stainless steel hard pipe kits from Smithy. In short, yes, we can provide the hard pipe kits with the appropriate "nipple" welded on. To be completely honest, I'm trying to stay clear from offering this alteration service because of the problems with fitting DV's. There is such limited room (especially on the passenger side) to mount DV's that you very quickly run into problems. I'm still on the look out for relatively cheap DV's which are small enough to fit yet offer the right kind of "whooosh" noise (I'm not a fan of DV's which probably shows in my untechnical explanation of the noise they make ;)) Once these are sourced I can offer hard pipe kits with DV's fitted as standard!

Hi Alex, That is a very difficult question to answer because apart from the listed modifications it also depends on the condition of various engine/transmission components. If you took two completely stock 1991 Z32's (identical mileage, etc) and put them on the rollers you will get two different bhp readings. One may have more loss through the transmission than the other, perhaps the engine internals aren't in as good a nick as they should be. The point is that in stock form your car (or any car) could already be down on the factory quoted bhp figure. If you then bolt on any modifications your expected outcome will probably be less than you expected. I'm sorry if this sounds boring and dull but I get asked this same question every week by clients who buy performance items from me. The short answer is to say that any performance modification will add bhp but it is impossible to state how much bhp is added. In my opinion it is much more relevant to quote a "range" of bhp increases which depend on the condition of the car and its components. All the best mate, Dan

Mick, If you are refering to the blank units located at the corner of each bumper then you can just replace them with the crystal clear ones. If you are refering to the indicator/running light units located in the little square units next to the number plate then the answer is no. If you are refering to the latter I can make a suggestion what a couple of my customers have done in the past to UK spec cars. What they did was purchase J-spec fog lights and crystal corner indicator units. With a bit of clever rewiring they popped the indicator bulbs into the crystal corner indicators and kept the running lights in the new J-spec "fog" lights. You could even put the running lights in the crystal corner indicator in the space behind the actual indicator bulb and use the fog light as an actual fog light (you'd have to place a switch in the car though). Either way, there are possibilities to do what I think it is you want to do and I can help source the parts for you. HTH Dan

I have had Toyo Proxes T1-S's all round on standard rims and they lasted just over 20k miles (!) I don't drive like a granny and have been very pleased with the tyres' performance. I've recently replaced all tyres (following an alignment problem) with Toyo Proxes T1-R's which, so far, have performed brilliantly in both dry and wet conditions. Have a look at http://www.mytyres.co.uk or phone Rochford Tyres on 01702 545689 (option 1, speak to Mike). Both have good prices and lots of choice in the standard sizes (ie Front: 225/50ZR16, Rear: 245/45ZR16). In the end I got my tyres from Rochford Tyres via mail order. Very good service and competitive pricing. Good luck. Dan

That one certainly isn't flying ... I believe it is on it's way to the aircraft carrier museum they've got on the river somewhere in NYC.

Haven't I seen those wheels on a very tasty Murcie in California? Think the car was resprayed in a very nice yellowy-gold - would love to have one of those!

I think they were pulling your leg ... If you replace the exhaust system with a straight through system it will be so loud that you won't hear the tapping noise anymore! Or anything else for that matter ... Tapping noise is a cause for concern and needs to be investigated. Failing to do so may cause extensive internal damage to the engine. Regards, Dan

Pete - if the tyres came on the car from Japan then I'm afraid they're illegal on the road in the UK and require replacing. The rubber compounds used in Asia are very different to the ones used here and if you're not careful you'll soon find out what can happen if you don't replace them. Stevie - Good man for stopping and helping the man! If you're in Redditch/Bromsgrove we should make some time to meet up (I'm in Studley). Regards, Dan

The high pitched sound you've been hearing is an indication that a door, boot or bonnet is left open at the time of arming the system. After a short while it will then sound the alarm. It could just be a door sensor which isn't engaging so investigate that first. In my experience, the sensor they use under the bonnet is prone to bending and may at some point stop making contact fully resulting in the alarm going off. The "stick" thing you refer to is the manual immobiliser override. There should be a small button shaped point in the car (perhaps under the driver side dash under the steering wheel). You should have been given the "unlocking" code when the alarm was installed. I won't go into the details of how to unlock the immobiliser on an open forum but if you need me to explain send me a PM or e-mail and I'll do my best to help. Best thing to do right now is to (a) check for either open doors or faulty door sensors and (b) contact your local alarm fitter or Cobra and get a manual. Hope this has helped. Regards, Dan

Hey Stevie, Was that you stranded on the M42 this afternoon? Was informed about a red ZX on the hard shoulder by a passing NSX customer of mine ... Would have stopped if I was passing. Put the car on 16's and get the 18's repaired. Just remember to drive sensibly whilst the 16's are on ... Dan

v6power - can you please e-mail me (info@dta-motorsport.co.uk) so that I can pass relevant information to you for inclusion on the site. First and foremost I'd like to include our contact information. Thanks, Dan

I also stock these.

Probably not but the ECU "can" keep it artificially at that particular rpm. Best thing is to disconnect the idle valve and see what the rpm's do. If they drop then you'll know the idle was held by the ECU. If the rpms don't drop then you're ok. ;)

It's called a "circlip" and can be a right pain in the you-know-what to fit. You can get some circlip pliers which will make it easier to fit but only persistence will get the clip into place. They usually fit into a groove in the flange so try pushing one end into the groove and then the other end. My apologies if this isn't much help ... Dan

The main reason why you'd want to clean the throttle bodies (TB's) is to cure either a rough idling problem or small hesitation problem. Basically, as the butterfly valves collect carbonised deposits (ie dirt) etc there is a potential for there not being a complete seal when they are closed (ie on idle). There is also a tiny hole at the front of the butterfly valve which allows enough air to pass through it on idle. If this gets clogged up with dirt you're likely to experience rough idling. Other than that there is no performance difference - just a nice fuzzy feeling that you've cleaned something ;) The idle control valve can ge reached in situ as it is located at the top of the engine (near the firewall). The idle control screw is a little fiddlyer because it is at the bottom of the idle control valve under several wiring looms and pipes. One way of seeing whether your idle control valve is dirty is if your car is idling high (ie 1000+ rpms). Hit the top of the valve assembly with the back of a screw driver (don't over do it ...) and you'll likely find that your rpms will drop to a more reasonable level. This points to the fact that the release pin (on the inside of the assembly) is dirty and not able to move freely until you hit it. Take the rubber hose off and squirt in some carb cleaner. This will usually temporarily resolve the issue. However, if you want to give it a propper clean then you'll need to remove it from the car and disassemble it. HTH Dan

No problem Chris ;) Like I said before, the entry of Blatz and Datascan hasn't affected ConZult sales so I'm not worried about that aspect. We are looking into the possibility of integrating the "correct" performance parameters into the ConZult software. This means that if the ConZult detects a sensor reading outside of stock parameters it will bring up a warning message. Unfortunately it is not as straight forward as that because (a) there are so many performance parameters which are influenced by other factors and so pin pointing a potential problem is very difficult, and (b) there are a lot of modified cars out there which run different performance parameters without cause for concern. We need to find a nice "middle of the road" solution for that so for the time being we've put the data in the user manual. And just to comment on what Les (Billynomates) said - support should indeed come from the company/individual who originally sold the equipment. Technical issues are usually best resolved on a one-to-one basis which minimises the potential for "faulty" second-hand information finding its way into the world and thereby causing unnecessary confusion. I see no problem in people posting their results and questions regarding their results.