handling issues

Beau5225

New Member
have recently aquired a nissan pulsar after purchasing a garage with the vehicle inside. it has been stood for 8 yrs 40k on the clock. i have now got it moted etc. it had all new discs tyres filters plugs pumps etc then flew through mot. I,m not familier with these vehicles but it seem very vacant when cornering almost like a delayed response. however no bushes were apparently required for the mot but cant help wondering if this is something like that. as even the tyres were perished when descovered. i cant believe this is the norm for this type of vehicle. Help...
 

skiddusmarkus

Active Member
Have you checked the engine and gearbox mounts?When mine were knackered it added a sort of delayed movement onto the car from the engine shifting wen cornering.
 

PobodY

Moderators
Staff member
Are you used to driving an AWD car? - You can't throw them into corners because they'll just understeer.

Yes, you can dial that out by changing the suspension setup, but by default you need to put it into the corner gently and power out.

Mine is pretty standard and it doesn't feel vacant of delayed to me, but it definitely feels different from the Skyline I used to own (and the Fiesta I had before the R). - If it's feeling a bit light and sloppy, then the first thing I'd do is get the alignment checked.
 

Fast Guy

Moderators
Staff member
When my steering rack bushes were changed for uprated ones, it made a major difference to the steering feel, even though there was nothing wrong with the old ones as such.
 

PobodY

Moderators
Staff member
Hmmm - how big a job is that? It's the kind of thing I'd be tempted to do on mine, but not if it means taking the engine out to take the rack out.
 

Fast Guy

Moderators
Staff member
The engine was out for the clutch and a few other jobs anyway, so it would have been easy. You might be able to do them with the engine it, but I think it could be a pain of a job.
 

Beau5225

New Member
splendid. O.k somewhere to start i think are bushes and mounts. I,m sure it is something like this as this is at low speeds just driving also. The car is nearly ready now just having new turbo fitted as it was smoking. then straight up for sale as i thought i,d keep it for a little weekend toy but find myself a bit self concious driving it cause i,m now 40 and should stick to wolf in sheep clothing not wolf in wolf clothing.
 

johnsy

Active Member
lose the rear wing ,fit a fmic and lose the bonnet, stick 1.4 sunny badges on it ,

you wont get much for it these days, if its clean and standard put ity away for another 10 year
 

PobodY

Moderators
Staff member
splendid. O.k somewhere to start i think are bushes and mounts.
Talk to VSS Irvine (who is a SuperPro? polybush dealer) or try somewhere like PRI

i thought i,d keep it for a little weekend toy but find myself a bit self concious driving it cause i,m now 40 and should stick to wolf in sheep clothing not wolf in wolf clothing.
I wouldn't worry about that; there are very few owners who are boy racers; they simply can't afford to insure and run these cars. - Quite a few owners are family men (and/or women), and use them every day. It may look a little odd to see a man in a suit in his R, but it makes them no less respectable.

I can assure you that the police take no notice of me (they may follow me for a while, but they've never stopped me), and that most of the kidz don't know what they are looking at (so you get little trouble from them... especially when it leaves their little corsa in the dust).

Enjoy it, and don't worry what people may think. - I figure that if you don't drive like an idiot, then nobody will assume you're one. ;-)
 

Fast Guy

Moderators
Staff member
but find myself a bit self concious driving it cause i,m now 40 and should stick to wolf in sheep clothing not wolf in wolf clothing.

Don't be daft. I'd have sold mine years ago if that was the case. I'm well over 40myself. There's a few older people on here, probably not so many youngsters.
 

skiddusmarkus

Active Member
Well I've been driving more subtle cars these last few years and I must say I feel much more self concious in this.Am getting numpties trying to get me to race in their vxr's and followed by what I am sure was a traffic cop in an Insignia for about 10 miles before he realised I wasn't going to go over the limit.

I've had the steering rack bushes(and every other bush I can think of) replaced with poly ones but I also did it when the engine was out.
 

gtir_pimp

New Member
the handling on these things arent exactly great anyway. you could do every handling mod on this car and it still wont handle as well as a standard evo or scoob i am sorry to say.

and to hell with what people think
 
P

pulsarboby

Guest
this is quite an interesting thread:thumbsup:
and a lot of differences in opinion all with valid points.

first the over 40 thing
im another 40+ air stealer:lol:
and yes you are correct in saying 'you do look a cock driving one of these cars' but in all fairness i think everyone looks a cock driving them young or old as the mere design of the car alone has ''look at me'' written all over it, so if you dont want to be noticed ''for the wrong reasons'' then its not the car for you!

now put it on a race track and the design thing and age thing goes out the window, it then becomes just another track car on an equal playing field8), age and car styling is irrelevant as the talkings done on the track.

as for the handling thing....george said earlier about feeding the car slowly into a bend (when standard) to get best handling with awd....sorry george but i totally disagree with that!
you need to be chucking the car hard into a bend then gentle with power on exit as thats when it will be at its worst with understeer, you gain nothing with soft in and hard out technique as it will just wash out on the front. these cars like the heavy handed approach and a bit of countersteering to kick the rear end out which is why they are very good at short sprints, hillclimbs etc.

now do a few tweaks to suspension, geometry, rigidity and you then have a car that handles very well too.
ive owned/driven evos and dare i say scoobys on a track and road and they are good but imo very wooly handling although the evo is far better i have to say....the R is more than a match for any of them on a track and you also get the pleasure of knowing that YOU are driving the car and not the other way round, you dont get that feeling with any other car other than something completely radical such as a caterham, aerial atom or rwd bike powered car such as the megabusa etc.

ive been known a few times to run down our cars in the respect of the big power thing etc and i stick by my guns on that, but one thing i will not fault them for is their fun factor and handling when setup properly, the sheer rawness of them makes them an unbeatable car for the money they cost and youll get mucho respect on track from many others with machinery that cost 10 times (or more), the shock factor alone is worth its weight in gold when a crappy nissan sunny comes flying past their very expensive track prepped porsche etc:lol::lol:
 
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