pixel8r

Hey talk to Bill from ATS. I think its gonna be expensive whichever way you go (new turbo x 2 = ouch) so I'd give him a call and he'll be able to give you very good advice on which way to go. I have a S2 stagea (rb25det neo) and my turbo died so I went to ATS and they recommended either a GCG hiflow T28 (bill sends the turbo off to GCG and waits for it to come back - he gets the SAU discount price so its cheaper than GCG quoted price still) or the option I ended up going with which is Garrett GT30 (6 blade) internals machined up to the stock housing. Obviously being all steel (and BB) I now have a bit more turbo lag than with the stock turbo but when it really hits boost (starts spinning up at ~2000rpm but reaches full boost around 3500rpm) it really goes hard all the way to redline! Just another option worth considering. Comes with full 12month Garrett warranty and if you get Bill to install it he gives 6 months warranty on labour. He really looked after my car and did an awesome job. I'm not affiliated with ATS in any way - just a really happy customer. Its fairly expensive but well worth the money IMO. He also mentioned the GT30 is good for ~300rwkw. and being all steel and a good ball bearing, it can a bit more boost

I thought you could do this anyway with the stagea...or is it only when the keys are still physically in the ignition (ignition off). I know when i've turned the car off and left the windows down I can just press the window up button and it'll still go up. I think the power to the windows etc stays on for a few seconds after you turn the car off (like it does on ford falcons etc). I agree with everyone on turbo timers. If you're just driving home from work or something and haven't really thrashed it at all then the turbo's probably half asleep anyway. Its only really if you've been driving above 80-100km/h for a while and then stop like at a servo or on the side of the road (if you're on a long trip) - then you should probably leave the car running for a minute or so just to be safe. Otherwise for driving round town or stopping for fuel in town etc it should be fine to just switch off. Heatwise it wont have cooled that much by the time you're back in the car and going again so its not that big a deal IMO. Oh and I find the auto lights are annoying simply because they dont come on early enough in low light (after work etc). And I THINK that there are times when it puts the dash lights on but not the headlights?? so i'd be thinking my lights are on but they're not. I could be wrong on that but to be sure now i just switch them ON or OFF and ignore the auto setting. Alternatively I could put some tint or something over the light sensor but then I could end up with my lights on all the time...

Bought my S2 on the gold coast (I live in adelaide) so we stayed overnight at my parents place (brisbane) and left next morning for the drive back to adelaide. Its a great driving trip if you like driving - my wife and i both do! We do it in 2 days, stopping overnight in a motel somewhere between dubbo and west wyalong. Its just drive,drive,drive...not the kind of trip you want to do too often but still a great experience. That was the 3rd time we've done that trip, only this time was one-way. The other two times were in a nissan silvia lol!! 1st time was S13 SR20 n/a and 2nd time was S13 K's SR20 turbo. There was only 2 of us so not too cramped for space. The stagea was by far the most comfortable - not surprisingly. Despite its heavier weight and being larger, it still stuck to the road like glue and took the corners very well! It was an awesome start to owning what is my best car ever. Its a great drive, I'd love to go on another interstate driving trip sometime in the next year or so - maybe to perth next time

I'm also interested to hear people's thoughts on this. Still, they say even with the govt handout, it would still take about 30,000kms until you actually start to save money on it...and from my experience gas usually gives you lower performance unless its a dedicated system and the car is designed for it (eg. dedicated gas falcons). Still i'm talking mainly about the LPG add-on systems for dual-fuel from 5-6 years ago - they may be a lot better these days. But my take on the whole thing is that if enough people jump onto the gas bandwagon, and so far HEAPS of people have, then it will just push the taxes on gas and the price of gas upwards, and by the same token if a significant amount of people stop buying petrol, then the price of petrol will drop slightly, to account for the lower demand (hoping!). And another thing - does it make sense to hand out $2K for people to do a gas conversion when all they need to do is lower the tax on petrol or get rid of it altogether and people would be just as happy! I'm waiting for them to give out $2K for a set of 18's, or a nice exhaust etc. - now THAT would be cool

Just out of interest, was this noise a squeak sound? or more like a rubbing/tyre sound? Was driving with the passenger window down today and noticed a bit of a squeak coming from that side of the car every now and then. Didn't sound wheel related tho cos it didn't do it continuously. Not a big issue for me at all, just wanted to see if was the same thing.

My S2 was 1658kg when it was registered. That was completely stock. Not sure how much fuel was in it.

Fuel economy is very dependant on your mods and your driving style. I drive my stag to work every day (stop-start peak hour traffic in adelaide, north east suburbs into town and back). Its a S2 auto and these days I get around 12.5 - 13.5L/100km and I do usually have a heavier-than-normal right foot... I also have a hiflow turbo now (very restricted by stock exhaust - but thats a good thing for me until i can afford to upgrade the fuel management/cooling - some of you may have read my thread a while ago) - and I'm thinking that the slightly extra turbo lag has actually improved my fuel economy - as I'm now off boost for most of my drive into town etc. I'd like to see the effect of this on the freeway at 100-110km/h too as my turbo is hardly spinning at 2400rpm which is where it sits at 100km/h. The car is still much quicker than before too, the turbo comes on hard at around 3000-3500rpm and goes great even with the stock exhaust. Its running 8psi but I'd estimate that to be roughly equivalent to 10-11psi with the stock turbo - hard to say really. But yeah for a S2 with the usual mods and somewhere under 180awkw I dont think its unreasonable to be able to get under 15L/100km. It really depends how you want to drive it. I dont mean for you not to enjoy your car, but just limit the amount of times you put your foot to the floor. Open throttle is where the fuel disappears quickly. Other than that, my advice - price up a few stags online, work out whether you want a S1 + mods or S2 (usually lower km's, and ~20kw more than S1 stock) and then get one!! you wont regret it!

Iridi's/platinums a waste of money?? Think about it, they'll last you like 4-5 years, compared to 6-12 months for copper... I'm not sure of the cost but even if the copper ones are 1/5th the price, thats still hassle changing them so often. I'd go the platinums. $150 max and they're done.

For anyone that might be trying to decide between a NA R34 and GTT... GET THE GT-T!! Seriously the extra cost in fuel is worth it for the much much better performance. Its just another cost. Imports cost more to insure. Its just part of the cost of owning a great car. Please dont get me wrong, I'm not saying that fuel cost shouldn't be considered. Just factor it into the cost of the purchase price of the car, and get the turbo. You'll thank yourself later.

Have you considered a stagea? Half joking - they're not exactly great on performance (i own one) unless you spend the $$. But if performance is your thing, then spend the same $$ on a skyline and it will go a lot better and will handle better too. If you're thinking of taking passengers (ie. more than 1) on a regular basis then you may want to consider the very limited back seat room in most nissan import coupes. Your better options for this are a 4door skyline or a stagea. If this doesn't bother you then my opinion is to go for an R34 GT-T. IMO they look better than 32's/33's. You can pick up a nice one for low $20k's these days if you go through an importer. Anything auction grade 4 or higher should be ok and always check the auction papers for (hopefully) genuine km's as many are "wound back" before they get here.

Sounds like you may have some kind of speed alert installed. Not a factory option as far as I know. I'm guessing its just an aftermarket thing? You can get them for any car. Haven't owned an r32 myself tho so I cant be conclusive on that. I've owned 2 Silvias and now a Stagea and the only odd sound is the beeping when in reverse. I believe all nissan imports have it.

Yes I only just recently found out what these were for too. I too have oil lining my intake piping so if anyone has pictures of one installed or how to install I'd love to see these pics also.

Haha.. well I put lowered king springs in my last silvia (sold it in march to buy the stagea) and left the standard shocks on... very bad idea. It was ok at first but eventually it just became very uncomfortable. I felt bumps that I couldn't even see...lol! Going from that to the stagea (completely stock) - I thought I was driving a hovercraft it was so smooth

Awesome stagea!! and I must say having owned 2 silvias before, I reckon your other cars looked pretty good too!! - love the "angel-eyes" - was never a fan of the popup lights but each to their own. But I'm sure you'll agree that the stagea will suit you much better now - and probably more comfortable to drive (just guessing - it really depends on your suspension setup in the 180's). Just so you know, with fmic, full exhaust and ebc you should clear 150awkw I'd say (someone else on here can probably give a more accurate figure) which puts your weight/power ratio lower than a stock 180sx/silvia (pre-1994 for 180sx - they went to 185kw sometime after that). So it really isn't hard to have a wagon thats still got plenty of grunt. The stagea is the PERFECT combination of looks/style, performance (+potential), features and practicality. I'm sure everyone on this forum would agree with me there.

Was that with a bigger exhaust tho? I'm still running with the standard exhaust (tiny) which also appears to be THE most crucial part of my whole turbo replace/upgrade exercise. If the exhaust was any less restrictive, the turbo would run free-er, boost would be higher, there'd be much improved airflow, and I'd need some kind of fuel management, probably costing me $1500-2000 on top of the turbo itself, maybe even more than that. The exhaust limits the airflow at the moment so that even with the new GT30 turbo, its still only running 6.5psi stock. I did notice today that my ground wire for the stock solenoid had come loose so I re-grounded that and now it runs at 8psi and holding that very well. Boost build-up comes a little later than stock (as expected) but it does pull quite good all the way to the redline. Its very smooth, no fuel problems whatsoever...other than obviously the potential to use more fuel because it now takes in a bit more air.

Just a quick (and hopefully final) update on the GT30 turbo. Car runs great, no problems at all, no ignition cut/fuel cut/misfiring or anything so I'm very happy about that. Its a little laggier than stock (as expected) but once the revs are up around 2500+rpm you can feel it pulling and it just keeps going and going. The stock turbo tended to run out of puff at 3000rpm. The car is quicker but still not super quick because as mentioned previously its being choked by the standard exhaust. But thats how it will stay for a while now because now I have a large debt to pay off (on top of the car loan). So finally the turbo is fixed and the car runs great, and has lots of potential lying there for some time in the distant future when my debts are fully paid off.

Ok, I have the car back again, all looks good. First thing I noticed is the turbo noise gone (obviously)....yay! Second thing I noticed is lag. SK is possibly correct about R&R mapping but I'll need to look into it further. Its running 6.5psi with the new turbo, showing that the tiny stock exhaust is indeed quite restricting. I'd estimate this to be equivalent to say 9-10psi with the original turbo so some tuning would obviously be very helpful (but expensive ). Runs very well, and the good news is that Bill had a good look up close at the engine with everything off etc. and confirmed that my low km's do appear to be genuine. The immaculate interior would certainly back this up so I'm happy with that. Obviously its been sitting around for a long time in Japan and this has affected a lot of things, including the turbo. Money's gonna be tight now but I'll get it onto a dyno as soon as possible. Would like to know what the A/F ratios are like now. But all in all, the car now drives very quiet and very smooth. Power delivery is very smooth. Haven't managed to give it a good run yet since I've only driven it home and that was in peak hour traffic. Need to at least take it up to 80km/h to get a good feel for the difference.

That sounds fairly logical. I'll get it checked on a dyno as soon as I'm able to. So whats actually needed to combat this, just the DFA or SAFC? or a FPR as well? Not sure if it describes how the car drives though. How will I know if its using this R&R mapping??

I know. but remember this is a S2 stagea so I'd want the R34 turbo (not sure what yours is) - otherwise it would be a turbo downgrade... Anyways, the job is done. I dont call a replacement turbo that is better than the stock one a silly unnecessary mod. I didn't want a 2nd hand turbo although I did initially try to get one but couldn't find one anywhere in SA. Sure I'm nowhere near the potential of the turbo, but my turbo is fixed, and its better than before and I have a brand new turbo and warranty. How is that a bad thing?? When something breaks, you either replace it with a 2nd hand stock one (can be risky, been there before and got burnt) or spend more money and improve the car. Thats what I chose to do here. If your turbo died or was close to it, I'm sure any one of you would've looked at a hiflow option as well. Its the logical thing to do. I spoke to Bill at ATS a LOT about whether it is safe to do so and what are the pros and cons and he advised me that I wont be getting the best from the turbo but that in any case it will still be a good option as a replacement turbo (still MUCH better than stock) - with loads of future potential if I want it.

Thanks, and I realise this is all correct IF I am upgrading my turbo with some high power figure in mind...but I'm not. My stock turbo was almost dead (see original posts) so my options were: - replace with 2nd hand stock turbo - no warranty, almost impossible to find one, possibly will fail again at some point?? - replace with GCG hiflow - very good option but meant car would be off the road for an entire week, I opted to pay more and go for option 3, which is... - replace with GT30 hiflow - was told better option than GCG and would be done in 2 days with standard R34 turbo housing. I didn't replace the turbo to get more power - that is just a bonus. What I want initially is a more reliable turbo, with warranty and similar response to stock. I believe I have achieved that as the exhaust will limit the boost enough so that fuel pressure etc. will not be an issue (until I upgrade the exhaust - and THEN i will run into problems with the above.). I do really appreciate the info though, and it should prove to be very handy to myself for future reference and anyone else planning to do similar upgrades. So really the face that I haven't upgraded the exhaust cancels out most of the requirements you specified. I know I'm not getting the most out of the turbo, but right now its about getting it running reliably, and I also have loads of potential for future mods, and will definitely use your post as a reference when planning these. So where does the car stand now? well its simple, because the exhaust is so restrictive, the boost level should remain much the same, and the increased airflow should only be up to 25-30% more than with the stock turbo, which would be the equivalent to raising the boost on the stock turbo to say ~10psi - which we know is fine. Its a delicate situation because as soon as the exhaust is upgraded, all of SK's post comes into play - and I really do need to consider FPR, boost controller, and piggybacks before even thinking of upgrading the exhaust. Thanks SK, I agree with you entirely - and hopefully you will appreciate where i'm coming from

Sorry to steal the thread but it seemed like a logical place to ask... What colour should the bilstein rear shocks be? The ones in pictures I've seen are yellow whereas I've had mine replaced under dealer warranty some time ago and was told they were bilsteins, yet they are black. They are definitely new though and provide a very comfortable ride.

Thanks, its actually an S2 stagea so already has the R34 GTT intercooler. I dont even plan to go above 10psi so this cooler should be fine for what I need. Is the bosch fuel pump needed? I doubt my power figures are going to be very excessive and really the only other thing I plan to do to the car is a catback exhaust at some stage (mainly for a better sound, although still fairly quiet). I rang GWW a few days ago about possibly fitting an SAFC and decided it was way too expensive. its only ~$400 for the unit but the installation and tuning cost was even more than that so I'd be looking at nearly $1k installed and tuned. And GWW told me that with a fairly stock RB25 neo it wouldn't make a huge difference. They actually recommended the E-manage (blue). Costs around $600 apparently and a little more to install and tune but is a better unit and has more features. oh and also GWW's 4wd dyno is coming out the ground tomorrow for autosalon this weekend Either way I dont have that sort of money to spend on piggybacks. It would take well over a year to pay it off in fuel savings. The real issue for me right now will be boost and/or fuel pressure. The Nismo FPR sounds like the solution if there is any trouble, and doesn't sound too expensive so thats good. Does that need any tuning or anything or is it just a simple replacement?? If its good how it is then I'll be very happy to leave it. I'd like to get a piggyback ecu at some stage but I would need to save up for that.

Well I did an 'economy run' recently in my stock S2 stagea, keeping off boost where possible and I got 12.8L/100km, measured using the method in the above post. I like to reset the km's every time i fuel up so I can work out my fuel economy. Driving how I normally do I get between 13.5 and 14L/100km (city driving, mostly peak hour traffic) and the above figure included a fair bit of driving outside peak hours so its a little bit optimistic. Not that much difference between the two figures though which I thought was great because it means my usual driving style isn't costing that much extra in fuel. I'm not a leadfoot but I do like to boost a bit when accelerating.

Thought I'd resurrect this thread since my car is in at ATS with the turbo upgrade being done as we speak. I'll post the results when I get the car back (hopefully tonight). Still quite nervous about having a GT30 hiflow sitting in an otherwise stock stagea. Like this will give a fair increase in air I imagine, requiring more fuel. My biggest worry is that the standard ecu etc. wont be able to supply enough fuel and I risk damaging my engine or something equally as bad. Its running the stock boost solenoid (hi boost mode at the moment but I can put that back to standard - either way it will still use high boost mode in high revs but I'd be able to keep the revs down until I get a fuel pressure regulator or something). Does anyone have any thoughts on whether it will be fine as is or whether I should be looking into a piggyback or FPR or boost controller or something as protection?? I'm not after power or anything for now, I just want to know what I NEED to avoid damage. Bill at ATS seemed to think there would be no problem how it is. I guess an easier way to say it is that all I am changing is the turbo (stock -> hiflow GT30) - so with the extra airflow will the ecu/fuel etc. keep up? or if not what more do I need to do?

pixel8r = pixelator. I'm into computers, linux, programming, graphics, multimedia you name it. I thought up pixel8 years ago but found that was taken on a few other IT forums so I added the 'r' to make pixel8r. No other significance other than the fact that pixels are the dots that computer screens are made up of - and it sounded like a cool screen name at the time. Now I use it everywhere...