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pixel8r

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Everything posted by pixel8r

  1. This may be true but there are supposedly "high flow" 3" cats out there that dont flow much more than the factory one. Not all cats are created equal That said, there's no point ONLY upgrading the cat and there's also no point upgrading your exhaust WITHOUT upgrading the cat...so there should be no issue here. If you're looking at a new exhaust, get a new 3" cat with it.
  2. I think you're referring to what happens when you remove the ATTESA fuse - effectively turning ATTESA "off". This would be different to forcing ATTESA into 100% rear through a torque-split controller as the ATTESA pump(s) would still be working as normal. I'm not 100% sure if it would be ok to do though. Apparently the standard setup is like 95% rear, 5% front when just cruising around so you could just set it to that on the torque split controller and then it should be all good. You wouldn't notice much difference between that and 100% rear anyway. If you just need RWD for dyno then 100% rear should be fine for the odd dyno session I'd imagine. But performance wise the AWD will outweigh any drivetrain losses so making it RWD is only going to be useful for drifting and 2wd dyno.
  3. Check this out. Looks like a M35. now if only my stagea sounded like that
  4. That new rex looks like a kia rio. I think they've made a big mistake with this one. The people that liked the previous WRX wont want to drive a car that looks like their mum's hatchback, and the people that would want to buy a little hatchback wouldn't be paying that much and wouldn't go near a WRX...so that leaves their potential market with the die-hard subie fans that will buy it no matter what it looks like. The lancer Evo X isn't much better IMO. The front looks very similar to an R34 GTR except that they've coloured it different to make the grill look different. Not saying they copied it, just that it looks good BECAUSE its a design that has looked good on other cars. The rear of the Evo looks like a cheap honda though. just my opinion but I think they could have done a lot better with the styling of the rear. On the whole though I'd definitely pick the lancer over the wrx. The front just looks mean. I think both WRX Sti and Evo are actually SLOWER than the previous models, although they'd hopefully be more economical. Still, would the buyers of these cars really care if it were the other way around (ie. faster & use more fuel)? I reckon it'll just push the prices of the previous models up a bit as people rush to buy the last good Evo/Sti. Here's hoping the new GTR will bring R34GTR prices down so we can all afford one of those... (apologies to those who own one now...i'm just jealous)
  5. I've heard plenty of good reports about JCI too. I believe most insurers will want to use factory parts so 2nd hand parts are probably your only option unless you want to pay millions of dollars in insurance to cover importing every part and panel from japan (besides, do they even still make these new?). Say all you want about shannons, but their claims stuff dont mean a thing to me since I've never gotten past the first phone call - and I'm not arrogant on the phone or anything like that. Just wanted an insurance quote just like any other company i've rung. Shannons do have good policies and very good reputation though. I'll give them that much. JCI have always been the cheapest for me and always easiest to deal with. Why would I want choice of repairer anyway? Who would I choose? I dont know any repairers and JCI DO know theirs so if I was to choose any old place out of the phone book chances are the repair would be worse than if they handled it. As for the insured value dropping, there's every chance your stagea's actual resale value dropped $4K in 1 year if you bought from a dealer (not your fault - i'm in the same predicament). Mine did a similar thing, probably because I paid too much for it to start with...but even though its now insured for ~$4K less than I paid for it, I'd say it still about $2K above market value if I were to sell it - so where's the problem? I dont think JCI are perfect - I just recommend them because they are easier to deal with than any other company i've called - and usually have the lowest premiums. Their excesses are high to offset the low premium, but once over 25 these drop a bit as well. And for a lot of people under 25, JCI is the only place that will even consider insuring them. Hopefully I will have better luck if I ever need to make a claim. I've worked for an insurance company before (not JCI) and they all have good and bad days. Either way they will pay up if the car is stolen and thats my main reason for having insurance. If it wasnt' the fact that I could potentially lose ~$20K in a write-off or theft, I'd probably just go third party.
  6. Pretty sure the ATTESA system is the same for s1 and s2 and very similar to that of the R33 GTR (not sure if exactly the same - I'd imagine there is some slightly different logic in the computer). Just out of interest, why would you want to? You may get slightly better fuel economy by doing this and also you get the ability to drift etc (which you can still do in AWD but its not the same). But performance-wise, the AWD will be quicker. People have proved on the drag strip that the AWD is almost 1s quicker down the 1/4 mile than a AWD in RWD mode (ie. front shaft removed). Not talking about factory RWD stageas which also have a weight advantage though... Anyway I believe these torque split controllers work with the ATTESA computer and therefore should work on any nissan with ATTESA. I could be wrong though. Cant imagine it would damage anything in 100% rear mode. If you were to drive it all the time with some torque going to the front wheels, you could run the risk of burning out the clutch packs but I cant see a problem going the other way...
  7. call me logical but if this idiot is getting 13s 1/4's NOW thanks to traction loss - welcome to FWD roger you clown, how does he think it'll go faster just by throwing more power at it?!! The wheels are just gonna spin more and it'll be slower if anything. I'd certainly hate to drive his cordia or be anywhere near it when it takes off. I cant imagine how uncomfortable it must be and how "undriveable" it is. Guess he's just waiting for a nice yellow sticker...and a sock + some masking tape (for his mouth).
  8. i have a 99 s2 stagea insured with Just Car $1150 with rating 1 protection, windscreen cover, etc. The only thing Just Car DONT have is choice of repairer, but they do get 2 quotes and give you lifetime warranty on repairs so hopefully this will be ok if I ever need it (hopefully not - touch wood). I will be staying with Just Car because IMO they are simply the easiest and best insurance company to deal with when you own an import, especially a modified one. Just Car dont need you to list off for them where the car will be parked at hourly intervals for every freaking day of the year, nor do they need to know what you had for breakfast and why... All they want to know is the details of your car, and they usually know a bit about imports (most times I've called the person on the phone owns an import themselves and I've even before had a conversation about their car etc). I just cant trust most other companies to give a quote and actually later down the track stand by the insurance that you've been paying for. It'd be all too easy for them to turn around 12 months later and say, sorry we dont insure that car anymore. Trust me I've had that happen...its basically stealing. Good luck to those with shannons too. Every time I've rung them they refuse to ensure my stagea, even though other people have called with much less unique cars and had no trouble at all. If I cant even get a quote, what are my chances of successfully making a claim with them? They advertise about insuring enthusiast's cars, and i explain that i've modified my stagea to get 160awkw, that i've been on several skyline cruises and a photoshoot, but still they say no. I mean what sort of company turns away potential customers? Wont be calling them again thats for sure.
  9. If you're going to run 20psi through it, and you're not willing to pay $400 to make sure its safe, ask yourself what you'd do if it DOES spike and you lose either the engine or turbo or both... I've got another suggestion, at the very minimum go onto ebay and buy a turbotech boost controller. They're recommended by many on these forums and work different to the stock solenoid or bleed valves. Not sure what R32's have stock, but these manual boost controllers are only ~$40 incl postage and they work fantastic. You get the quicker spool up the same as with an ebc because the wastegate sees no pressure at all until the limit set by the manual controller. Rather than bleed pressure off like a bleed valve, it actually restricts pressure to the wastegate and is very reliable. I'd recommend running a good ebc at those boost levels but thats your call.
  10. It has something to with retarding the ignition on gear changes, which the factory ecu does but the pfc does not? I'm no expert but this issue has been covered in pretty great detail in the stagea section (mostly autos). Basically there are full replacement ecu's like the E-manage or powerfc but none of these can give you the level of protection for your gearbox and engine as the stock ecu. The stock ecu apparently has mountains of logic for different scenarios and different situations in order to keep your auto box running smooth and your gear shifts smooth and quiet. Remove the stock ecu and you lose all of this and end up with a car that drives harsher and is likely to reduce the life of your auto box (worst case). Not saying it will break shortly, just that it may not last as long. I'm just passing on what was discussed on the stagea section, but I've also heard from other sources that your car's stock ecu has a LOT more complex programming in it than any aftermarket ecu. A lot of it is to do with making your car safe and comfortable to drive every day, so whilst you can get away with a replacement ecu in manuals and you can get an auto running with one, there will be some compromises. Unless you want huge power, you can usually get away with just a few piggybacks like Apexi SAFC and Apexi SITC. These wont give you anywhere near the tuning capability as a replacement ecu but on the other hand your car will start fine every morning and your auto will drive perfectly with no headaches. They are also easy to adjust by yourself if you happen to add or remove more performance parts and upset your tune. At the end of the day, you just want to drive your car, so dont get too worked up about which is the ultimate best solution. Work out how much power you want, how much is realistically actually useful on the road, and then work out how to get there safely and reliably. Chances are you will be quite happy with just the bigger turbo and a bit more boost and with the mods you've listed plus the turbo etc you will be fine with the piggybacks. Its a compromise either way but I'd rather compromise a little bit of tuneability than driveability. See the mods in my sig - i've been running with just a apexi SAFC for over 12 months and it works beautifully. The SITC will give you a lot more control and will reduce your lag, although even without it you can still advance your ignition timing a bit. Only cost me $150 to tune it too.
  11. Thanks for the replies. Its been very helpful! I'm aware of the license change as well - that bit is fine. Sounds like I wont have too much trouble which is great news
  12. Hi guys, sorry if this question gets asked all the time... I'm looking at moving to brisbane within the next few months and one thing I'm not sure of is how I'll go transferring my rego over to QLD plates. I live in SA now and the car's all legally registered etc. but SA dont have roadworthy cert's so I'll need to get me one of those. How do you go with these on modified skylines etc (I own a stagea) - will I need to remove my manual boost controller and reconnect the stock solenoid? and will I need to disconnect my SAFC? Those are the only two things I think I'd have any issues with. Oh and when I had the exhaust fitted they removed the heatshield above the turbo saying it didn't fit any more - so do I need to get some kind of heat shield put back on there? I just dont want any hassle with it cos otherwise its gonna be a pain in the neck and an extra cost I dont need on top of moving costs etc. I should mention that the above mods (well, everything thats in my sig) were done AFTER it was registered here in SA. Most of this stuff is well out of sight and you wouldn't find it unless you were looking for it. And also, the car looks stock, and is quite safe etc. and runs quiet and more than likely has less emissions than when it was stock. So how strict are most mechanics with these roadworthy inspections? Will I be ok as is or will I need to return it completely back to stock?
  13. I bought my S2 from motorvation back in March '06. In general they were great to deal with and very helpful - even picked us up from the airport when we flew over to buy it. My advice would be to get the car checked out by a mechanic or some kind of vehicle inspection people asap. We got the 12 month warranty with ours but dont put much confidence in that one. The list of what it covers is mainly engine, gearbox, drivetrain, all of which nissan cars are famously good for. If something's going to be faulty its more likely turbo or suspension IMO. Actually my car had issues with both of these. We had the rear shocks replaced but this was only covered by the dealer 3 month/5000km warranty NOT the 12 month warranty - so thats why I said get it checked out ASAP. As far as the turbo goes, the warranty only covered up to $700, which wouldn't even have paid for a replacement 2nd hand one. In the end we upgraded the turbo at our own cost. To get warranty you have to use the mechanics listed with the warranty network - and most of those dont have the first clue what a stagea is, let alone a turbo. We decided that something as important as the turbo would be best done by a specialist. In all though, 20 months later the car is still going great. The front suspension should probably have been fixed too but wasn't noticeably bad at the time we bought it. From what we've experienced with the car and the condition it was in when we bought it, it is quite likely the kms were genuine (or at least very close to) and that the car had been sitting in a caryard for several years. And I'm now thinking that its possibly better to buy a car with higher kms thats been driven regularly than one thats been sitting around for years...but we haven't done too badly. Still very happy with it, driven to brisbane and back in it, and on several short holidays in SA (i live in adelaide), and its still purring along. so aside from the initial issues with turbo and suspension, its not needed anything else done since, other than the usual servicing. Great car
  14. Just wanna throw an element of realism into the mix... There are a few "laws" i guess you could call them, that come into play the more power you have... A RWD car with heaps of power is more likely to just spin its wheels unless you have great tires and suspension setup. Also, to get a lot of power with skylines you generally need a bigger turbo, and the bigger the power target, the bigger the turbo required....and the bigger the turbo, the more lag you have. This only pushes your usable power further up into the rev range and will make the car less responsive and not really the speed machine you're after. There is a happy medium though, and you can have an extremely responsive and extremely fast skyline that is also reliable and relatively comfortable at the same time. XR6T's are great cars, all things considered, but being heavy they're not _that_ quick when stock. They do have great potential though, just a pity about the trouble you're having with the manual box. I can say that Nissan gearboxes have a name for reliability and strength. Even the auto boxes will handle 240-260rwkw pretty nicely I'd recommend a R34 with minor mods to begin with, exhaust, safc (or other ecu/piggyback), boost controller. For an extra bit of oomph, a GCG hiflow (or other) turbo, fuel pump, nismo FPR/bigger injectors, upgraded AFM, bigger cooler, brakes (important at this stage), and 16psi or thereabouts and you'll have a very fast skyline. One thing you'll notice is that the RB25 will rev a lot higher than the XR will and faster as well, not that you need me to tell you. The characteristics of either car are at opposite ends of the scale. The XR6T is a low-revving torque monster with a relatively small turbo for its size, whereas the skyline will rev its guts out and IMO feel more involving and excited...(ie. not saying its more exciting to drive, although it may well be...but the car will feel like it just wants to go...fast) you'll notice my bias...but this is a skyline forum. I actually drive a stagea, which is about the same weight as your XR6 and with my current mods would probably give it a run for its money too. But being a wagon its not the ideal sports car you're looking for...and I dont intend to make it one thats what skylines are for
  15. rain sensing wipers? probably not - i doubt stageas came with that option. A switch to heat up the wipers seems more likely...
  16. I have a question... why do they call it the "2008" gtr when its coming in 2007 in japan? is it gonna change at all before it gets to the US in 2008? if not, just call it the 2007 gtr and stop pretending it doesn't exist until the US has it...
  17. I think its more somewhere between the STI/EVO market and the BMW/MERC/PORSCHE market. I certainly wouldn't put the STI and EVO next to the GTR. Speaking purely on a technological level.
  18. Why would anyone want to modify it anyway? you'd have to think you were smarter than the nissan engineers if you thought you could improve the car just by changing the exhaust or completely redoing the engine management. All it will achieve is you will ruin the driveability and lose your factory warranty (i presume it has warranty). Everything about this car is only awesome when it is all as nissan designed it.
  19. I'm gonna show some of my bias here, but I disagree with this... I know the factory "claimed" fuel economy figures are like 11L/100km or something ridiculous but most of the car mags that have done "real world" testing have achieved figures like 15-18L/100km or even more in some instances. Add to that the fact that one of these engines would not perform as well in a stagea and the fact that a mildly modified stagea will be able to keep up with a stock SS commo...and in my case, although my performance wouldn't match a gen3, my fuel economy figures walk all over it. I get 11.5L/100km most weeks, driving to and from work, and remembering the stagea is ~100+kg heavier than gen3-powered cars. Dont get me wrong, the gen3 and later v8's (and ford v8's) are great engines. I'm only talking about their fuel economy vs performance. And speaking of cost effective, a modified RB25/26 would probably still be cheaper than a stock gen3 - yes? In terms of which gives _better_ performance, well that is a debate all on its own. There is no doubt these v8's would be more reliable (and last longer) than our RB's as the power is increased.
  20. I understand the theory of a resonator but in practice on a wagon they just dont do enough. The system they first put on mine was one they said worked well on skylines (R32-34). I previously owned a silvia and had a similar system put on that (by the same company) and had no dramas with drone. However with the stagea it seemed like the drone was increased around 2000rpm. The difference after the resonator was replaced by a second muffler was unbelievable.
  21. I have a GT30 in my stagea, along with other mods (see my sig). Last tune was 160awkw at just 9psi. I've since changed the boost controller over to a turbotech (recommended by many on these forums, including me) and noticed much improved response and it holds boost better - probably running somewhere around 9-10psi still. The GT30 is laggy compared to stock. It'll boost up about 500-800rpm later in the revs than when it was stock. It depends on how you define lag too. For overall speedy response any time any situation you cant beat the stock turbo. However if I plant my foot at any intersection, even without revving it beforehand, it will be happily revving over 4000rpm by the time I reach the other side of the intersection. I had my boost controller set to 12psi previously and it would hit this figure between 3600 and 4000rpm. I think when it was stock it would hit 6psi by 3000rpm or maybe a bit less, so when you put it all in perspective its not too bad. On the plus side, the GT30 goes a LOT harder than the stock turbo and pulls all the way to the redline. My car is auto so with a manual and pfc or at least some kind of ignition timing control you could reduce the lag even further. And like webng said, the fact that it wont be building much boost (if any) below 2400rpm means you will save on fuel. It certainly wont be enough to pay off the turbo but it will make you feel better every time you visit the servo I do find myself wanting less lag at times but on the whole the gt30 was a good choice. I'd maybe try a GCG high-flow if I was to do it again. hope this helps.
  22. I had exactly the same problem with drone due to a resonator. Basically with the wagon, resonator=drone. I had my resonator replaced with a second muffler and it fixed it up very nice Its not super quiet but also not very loud and not that noticeable when cruising. I know what you mean by loud - I had to wait a whole long weekend before getting the resonator changed over so for the whole weekend I kept thinking everyone around was gonna be looking at me cos my car was too loud. It was painful. So yeah, definitely 2 mufflers, and that should sort it out. Both mufflers are straight through so there's no restriction. You'll notice the difference straight away. I've done 2 interstate trips with my new exhaust and its not a problem at all for noise or drone.
  23. 1/2 a day's work? you mean 10-20 mins work (maybe longer if you're trying to reach a certain boost level - having to stop and adjust it manually in small increments until you're happy). Anyway, I have one of these and I too think they are awesome! I previously had a JRD sport one from ebay which is apparently the same type of controller. But when i put the turbotech one on it felt heaps more responsive and seemed to build boost noticeably faster. The JRD one couldn't hold the boost in the upper rev range (losing as much as 3psi by the redline) whereas the turbotech holds boost very constant. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a cheap but reliable boost controller.
  24. I think one of the main reasons the stagea is not the best on fuel is to do with gearing. The diff ratio is something like 4.3 which is basically geared for quicker acceleration and revs (very few cars have a diff ratio this high). I think the whole idea is to get the RB25 revving quickly to get it on boost fast in order to get the heavy wagon up and going. It certainly works as far as performance is concerned - Nissan have produced an awesome "sports wagon" (or "super touring wagon", but to me the concept is practically the same). But all this is at the cost of higher fuel usage, compared to our local relatively-fuel-economy-friendly wagons and sedans. Actually, with my current setup, my fuel economy is in the range of your average family wagon (falcon/commodore wagon), although its a bit more thirsty on the highway, but not by much. Add to this the fact that it has a great deal more power and performance to rival some V8's, and the stagea doesn't look so bad after all. But I must admit, in stock form, I was a little disappointed with the fuel economy I was getting. On the other hand, I have about 500-600rpm worth of extra lag now with the bigger turbo so I've sacrificed a touch of responsiveness at low revs for more mid-top end performance. I wouldn't describe my car as laggy however
  25. opps - sorry - double post.
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