pixel8r

I have a JRD one from off ebay. Same kind of thing as the turbotech one and mine does the same thing as you described. It boosts to 12psi initially then instantly drops back to 11 but from there it gradually tapers off down to 9psi. Reliability is good however, it never spikes, it spools up quickly and the boost is very predictable. I'm really keen to get hold of a controller that can hold 11-12 psi right throughout the rev range - reckon I'd pick up 10-15kw just with that alone. Most people I've spoken to say that the behaviour I described above is quite normal for this type of boost controller, so I'm wondering what other options I have, other than buying an expensive IEBC. There's always the jaycar kit which may be tempting. My brother's an electronics wiz so I'd get him to solder it up for me

I disagree with that!! In my (limited) experience with Nissan imports (n/a 2L silvia, turbo 2L silvia, turbo s2 stagea) there have been no "common problems". Almost every problem I've encountered has either been a failure that can happen to any car (and does) or a maintenance issue. However maybe if you do a search for 'common problem' you'll find that there really aren't any. Skylines aren't perfect, everyone knows they have some weaknesses, but at least in stock form they have proven to be generally a rock solid performance car. They also have loads of performance potential with a lot of easily available upgrade parts. Reliability for a modified skyline has a lot to do with how realistic you are about your power goals and how much money you are willing to invest in quality parts, and supporting mods. At the very least you'll find that Nissan gearboxes are generally quite strong. However there will always be a few exceptions to every rule.

Can I just confirm if the GT-4 is non-turbo? As I understand it the only AWD skylines that are also turbo'd are the GTR's right? (unless someone's done a conversion). One of the reasons I preferred the stagea (other than boot space) over a 4door R34 was to have AWD and a turbo

Looks great!! Love that body kit too! You'll love it - stageas are a great performance wagon. And as mentioned, get used to the weird looks from people wanting to know what the hell it is

I second that. it can be cleaned by removing it and running some metho or other non-residual contact cleaner over the little wires that hang down inside it (but dont touch these contacts with your fingers or anything). The metho will clean it up, then just leave it to dry for about 30 mins (metho dries very quickly) and you can safely put it back on the car and you're good to go. if you like you can also tip a tiny bit onto the actual contacts where the plug connects to it on the side...just to make sure the plug has a good contact. its a quick and easy check so i'd do that first. otherwise i guess check plugs/coils etc.

yeah i've seen that one heaps too. Also a black s2 lives nearby too, seen it twice before.

Just at a guess - could it also be described as the sound of a few nails being tipped onto sheet metal? Thats kinda what mine sounded like. Heard many different descriptions from people and given that I'd just had my timing advanced a bit as well as having the safc tuned to 12:1 AFR's (up from about 10.5:1, thus advancing the timing a bit more at the corresponding rpm) AND the fact I was running crappy 96 octane country fuel it was pretty obvious mine was pinging. and I'll also mention - fishpaste, you are and will be making a LOT of people jealous with that GTR! Not much not to like about it!

Hmmm thats a worry because mine was also tuned on a ~35deg day!! I (like others) figured I'd at least be safe from pinging. However I haven't heard any pinging - even in cold weather (love boosting it on cold nights) so hopefully all is well. Has been running like a dream since I had it tuned. Sounds like you may have been unlucky tangles? Hope you get it sorted. You may want to get it retuned with the new exhaust on anyway...

Starting full time permanent employment on monday!! and the wife has had work but also starts new permanent full time job on monday - not bad if you ask me So yeah all good thanks for asking. The plan is to save some money and take a few courses and move into Linux Systems Admin (most likely Novell CLA/CLE) probably next year at this stage but right now we're both pretty happy to have permanent work

I've really got no idea about the cause of your detonation...was just mentioning magnaflow cos they're good quality and its what I have - it'd remove your restriction but I cant say if it would affect the pinging? I heard the "dreaded sound" whilst driving interstate - somewhere around west wyalong. Was running on dodgy 96 octane premium unleaded and put the foot to the floor to speed up in a hurry and as it dropped back a gear and the revs climbed and it quickly reached full boost i heard it pinging quite clearly. Driving normally was fine though and once I gave the stagea her favourite drink (bp ultimate) again, all was well Thats a BARGAIN for the kakimoto exhaust!! Very generous of the seller by the sounds all for a good cause!! Good luck with it

3" magnaflow or similar should fix it all up for you not sure what price tho - may be able to find something 2nd hand in good condition?

Hmm not sure I'm a big fan of the shape of the M35. It looks a bit like those AWD jacked up commodore's (cant remember what they're called). It'd be a VERY nice car to drive etc. and great value for money but IMO just doesn't look as tough as our stageas. Plus I think the plastic flares and plastic around the bottom at the front looks cheap. It may look alright with a body kit but that would be a necessity, rather than an optional extra...

hehe nice work!! I've done 3 driving trips Adelaide to Brisbane and back in a Nissan Import, 2 of those trips were in a Turbocharged car (silvia 2L turbo, and more recently my S2 Stagea). The stagea is modified as in my sig, ~160awkw and it ran beautifully all the way. The only issue I had was with 96 octane premium fuel between adelaide and parkes, but between parkes and brisbane you can go the whole way on bp ultimate 98. With the 96 octane fuel it was fine except for one time when I went to overtake it pinged a bit when it hit full boost so I had to take it a bit easier after that. Cruising along at and up to 110 was no problem at all though so people should be ok with 96 octane fuel but just dont push it too hard. My wife & I do the trip in 1.5 days (stopping overnight at a motel), sharing the drive. Its usually about 22-23 hours total driving time and thats about 15-16 hours on the first day and only about 6-7 hours on the second day. We've only got the stock SMIC (same as r34 one) and the car had no overheating issues or anything. So like others have said, you should have nothing to worry about. Just make sure your car is in good running condition and all should be fine.

The computer will only override the tiptronic in order to keep the car from stalling. ie. if you're in 4th and go below say 50km/h it will drop back to 3rd to keep the revs up and if you slow down and stop it will eventually work its way back to 1st gear, but that is the ONLY time it will automatically change gears for you in tiptronic mode. Any one who's driven a ford falcon with tiptronic knows that the car will still change gears as per normal even in tiptronic mode (it treats it like "power mode" apparently) yet in the R34, the tiptronic is more like manual mode where the car will not change out of the gear its in until you move the lever or if it needs to keep the car from stalling (as above). I have a s2 stagea (same engine and tiptronic gearbox as r34) and dont use the tiptronic much. As lanky71 said, its just as easy to get the auto to do what you want by using your right foot - it will "learn" your shift patterns and adapt to your driving style a bit. If you want to improve it - get a MV Automatics Shift Kit installed. Makes it a LOT better!!

A few people have reported being thrown forwards when R&R sets in, and it has often been described as "almost sending people through the windscreen" (most likely an exaggeration but gives you the idea). I have experienced the same in my car with a bigger turbo and 3" exhaust but no safc. It would hit R&R every time even when only boosting to 10psi (stock boost solenoid). It wasn't until it was tuned properly with a SAFC that this behaviour went away. SAFC2 is your best bet. It will advance your timing a bit but get it tuned by a reliable tuner and you wont have any trouble.

I've heard the fuel cut defender isn't that good anyway. The better option that most people here have chosen is the apexi SAFC or SAFC2 piggyback ecu. In short - there is no such thing as "fuel cut" in stageas/skylines etc. - what it is is when the ECU detects too much airflow (via the AFM) it goes into what we call R&R mapping (rich & retard) which is some kind of "safe" setting programmed in to save your engine when nissan thinks there's a problem - such as the possibility of running too lean, as in this case. These SAFC units modify the signal from the AFM to the ECU, thus fooling the ECU into thinking there is less airflow than there really is, and hence supply the appropriate amount of fuel without a problem. Its a little more complicated than that in reality but basically it allows you to accurately tune your Air/Fuel Ratio (AFR) on a dyno, which is not possible with just the stock ECU. Have a look at others' mods lists - a lot of people have gotten over 200awkw with the help of an SAFC or similar piggyback ecu. It should only cost you around $300-400 for the unit plus installation and tune, or a bit cheaper if you get one 2nd hand. Very good value for money for what it can do.

My brother-in-law has been looking at getting a legnum for a while now. He's still toying with the idea but not yet convinced he can afford it etc. Parts would be a major issue for him. But they are now available for full compliance in australia so he's very tempted right now I reckon they're a very nice wagon, probably the fastest (maybe even the best?) sports wagon in its class/price range among the japanese imports - I'm mainly comparing to the Nissan Stagea RS4 (260RS would eat it up) and the Subie Legacy. The Legnum interior looks pretty plush but I still think the exterior looks way too much like a magna wagon. Still, my brother-in-law owns a magna sedan now and is a big mitsi fan so its a step up from his current car in any case. Things I like about the legnum are the interior, performance, and I'd imagine they'd handle pretty well too. Things I dont like are the 4WD system, its just a fixed torque split ratio, and has a front bias (engine is east-west, like most(all?) mitsubishi's and therefore it drives the front wheels primarily). Sure it works, but the stagea/skyline GTR/GTS4 awd is a far superior system. The looks are ok, but not really my cup of tea. On the whole though I'd have to say - very nice wagon choice

So is anyone from here going? I went to a dyno day there early last year with another club and got a miserable result (car was almost completely stock). They use a dynolog dyno which many people say reads 10-20kw lower than dyno dynamics dynos (could be just rumour). Would be interesting to see what my car gets on there now just to compare with my last dyno there (and also to compare with my last recent dyno on a dyno dynamics) Not sure if i'll go yet tho.

Spotted a nice R32 last night on nelson rd turning onto grand junction rd. Gave the thumbs up. You on here mate? I was in the white stagea.

hehe, you either like it or you dont i guess. My wife sells it now so I have to like it Still, I've got to say I'm pretty impressed with it. The only thing I could really argue with was the price, but then I've spent a lot on car cleaning products in the last 3-4 years (a lot more than the car cleaning kit costs). And for a lot of the other enjo products, they are often cheaper than the chemical cleaners they replace (over 4 years - which is the expected lifetime of the cloths etc.). Anyway, I'm not trying to sell them...I just use one and it works great, best car cleaning glove i've used.

I dont have leather and I dont think I'm driving a magna jokes aside, I do agree that leather models look better, and more luxurious. They do give the impression of higher quality. Just an idea, has anyone tried the leatherette seat covers? (there was a groub buy on here last year sometime) Might be an option for those of us with the "plain" trim? (they looked good in the photos i saw). Not as good as the real thing though I'd imagine.

It'd probably pay to price up some auto trans upgrades (ie. for strengthening the auto) and auto trans cooler (if you dont have one already) and compare the cost to the cost of a manual conversion. If you prefer the auto then you'll need to spend some $$ to strengthen it a bit and cool it better. I'd imagine with that amount of power a stock auto box wouldn't last that long. Nissan auto gearboxes are usually pretty strong but you're talking about 2-3x the stock power output that it was built for. At the very least you'll need a transmission oil cooler and probably some kind of shift kit (auto valve body upgrade), but I'd say it'll need a much more serious upgrade to handle 350-400kw. If you prefer the auto (I do) then its worth weighing up your options now. Dont wait till the auto box breaks because reconditioning costs a lot of money (I learnt the hard way). If it does break then your best and cheapest option is likely to be a manual conversion.

oops. well I was on mcintyre rd a couple times that day also, for what its worth wonder if the owner of the silver stagea is on here then??

The angle of the photo and the reflection may be a bit deceptive, but it does make the paint look awesome Here's a better one of the bonnet, with no shadows. pretty sure anyone could get shots like this after a good car wash - I just thought it looked cool!

That could be me Dont think I saw you though. Would've waved if I did cheers anyway.