Hakai

I still need to check my fuel filter. Where is it on an R32, anyone got an easy explanation or a pic or link to pics on a previous thread lol? Ben.

I guess that's why my posts are so long I don't know enough to assume other people know anything so I just get it all out there so I don't miss anything lol. Hell I screwed up something as easy as tightening a spark plug, just because I "thought" that's what I was supposed to do because that's how it was in my other engines, or was it? Maybe I was wrong all along and since they were n/a engines it never caused a problem, ugh... Horrible thought, well I know now don't I. Ben.

Just a quick correction to my post #16. In example #1 I stated that the spark would get possibly "blown out" by the increasing airflow caused by upping the boost. I've been doing a fair bit more research on this and I was in fact incorrect to a degree. The airflow doesn't "blow out" the spark, what happens is, as the pressure in the combustion chamber increases, so does the resistance to the spark. Eventually the pressure and therefor resistance, reaches a point at which the spark can no longer fire. I assume brand new oem coils would be able to create a strong enough spark under my conditions but as my coils are old, they're wearing out. There is also the fact that this pressure/resistance increase can also trigger the spark to earth out through hairline splits in the housing of your coils, as many people have mentioned having in their coils (Fixed by taping them). Ben.

I had this exact same problem after my FMIC was fitted. Not directly after because autobarn did a shit job on the pipework and I had boost leaks in the piping, but once I realised the piping was crap, I took it all out and redid it, pusing te lips in far enough to properly clamp behind the hoseclamps etc. When I did this I noticed my boost had increased on its own from ~9.5psi to 11psi. This is when I personally started to notice the missfire. Mine started at 4500rpm and happend until about 5500rpm at which point it smoothed off and was fine to 7500rpm. It would also, like yours, only do it under high load, especially up hills, or wide open throttle. If I revved through to 7500 from idle at say, 50% or 70% throttle, it wouldn't missfire. I was told "coil packs" by every single person I consulted, both forum and RL. I inspected all my packs and found that the carbon shim attached to the spring that contacts the top of the plug, in my #5, was literally burnt in half. I replaced this coil pack and the missfire toned down a bit but still persisted and I was getting a black fouling up type build up on the top of the #5 plug and bottom of the carbon shim. I then moved the plug in #5 to cyl #1 to see if it was the plug or the coil or whatever. The fouling up followed the plug, so my assumption is that when the coilpack died, probably from a voltage surge or something, it damaged the plug's integrity as well. My problem was fixed by regapping my plugs to 0.8mm. I was using NGK 5 heat range iridiums, not the best plugs to be using anyway with that heat range on them I know now Shortly after this happened I bought a manual boost controller and upped my boost to 14psi, and once again I had missfire problems I've been through hell trying to fix this shit, I've taped up my coil pack rubber feet, the coil pack housings, replaced my 5 heat range iridiums with NGK BCPR7ES (0.8mm 7heat range coppers), fiddled with boost settings to no end. In the end I discovered I hadn't properly tightened the plugs, I'd given them a finger tightening then another 1/2 turn (Like I did in my previous N/A cars). I found that I could, with almost no effort on my socket wrench, tighten them a good 3-4 turns more before they actually bit down into the head, that's when I gave them another 1/4 turn and stopped. This seemed to get rid of the majority of my problems. Currently running 13psi with no missfires unless ambient temp gets under 18 degrees or so. I attribute this to the fact that my coils/igniter or just my ignition system in general is just old. I mean 16 years now, they've had a good life. Splitfires, 040 Fuelpump and a regulator will be absolutely first on my list once my current debts are paid Sorry if the last 2 paragraphs were drivvel to you, I just thought you might up your boost and run into the same thing, and if you read it now it might help then. The thread I asked my questions on after turning the boost up, just in case you wanted to take a look Ben.

It took him a while to reply to my initial email but I suspect he's quite a busy guy, this is obviously not the only thing he does. Once he replied, service was excellent. Unfortunately for me I can't seem to fully fix my missfire issue under high boost so for now I can't run over 11-12psi So my controller isn't getting a real workout Ben.

Your ninja skills are strong! However, you underestimate my secret weapon! Don't mess with Mr. T! Lest the following happen to you; <-- Mr. T preparing for battle!! You -->

I pointed this out on page #7 already. I am quite jealous really, I want two numbers also because now I feel left out and unappreciated Maybe he's setting you up, you're gonna be like, some sort of spy for each team? If that is in fact what the segregation of numbers is for NOONE TRUST WAZ!!!

Firstly I must say props to SirMark. I had my controller delivered within 3 days of the direct deposit, great service Secondly, it works brilliantly. Boost builds beautifully and holds really well. On my RB20DET it hits 14psi at about 3500rpm, I think but it might be a bit lower. Boost tapers off to 12psi when the revs get up to 5000-5500ish but that's obviously just the turbo maxing out its efficiency. All plumbed in nicely now, still works 100%. Amazing little controller and an absolute bargain at this price. I've since fixed all the missfire issues it caused (Note that it wasn't the controller's fault, missfires were from coils/plugs not holding up under the extra airflow from higher boost) and the car feels great. Props to Mark for a great MBC. Ben.

This is normal, every car I've owned has done this, my VL, N14 Pulsar and my R32. IIRC every time you turn something on it puts more load on the alternator, which is belt driven by the engine (Duh). Sucking more current out of the alternator increases its resistance at the pulley wheel, making the pulley wheel on it harder to turn, which in turn creates more work for the engine which causes the revs to drop. I believe that after a few seconds the revs will return to normal, and sometimes even sit higher than they would at a normal idle to compensate for the extra load on the engine. Ben.

Just an update guys. Removed all coil packs and plugs this morning, taped up the bottom and top exposed areas of the coil pack housing. All but 1 of them had what looked like blue/yellow electrical burn marks on various parts of the housing, the one that didn't was the new one from the wreckers. So they all got a good solid taping. Another thing I noticed is that these plugs have a different washer on them to other plugs I've used. It kind of looks like the washer is 2 parts in one, and the outer part crushes down onto the inner part to create a kind of anti vibration lock. I hadn't tightened them nearly enough, so they all got a good tightening after I checked them for hairline cracks All in all, boost back at 14psi seems to be running perfectly. It's not cold atm, so in cold in might do it I don't know, but I'm not gonna find out, time to drive her nice and easy and save some money Thanks again everyone. Regards, Ben.

Hahah! Awsome, I did the exact same thing when I overtightened #1 when I first bought the 32 and put the Iridiums in. It did exactly what you described, except my miss kicked in really low in the RPMs, around 2500, the crack was far from hairline though I got it replaced from where I bought it, which I was both stoked and surprised at and all was well. Anyway back to present day. I Dropped my boost to ~12.5psi, only a -tiny- missfire evident very rarely, I'm gonna give the valve another 1/4 turn and then leave it at that, should be somewhere between 11.5-12psi I'm guessing. I need a reason to not drive it hard anyway, can't save money when my right foot keeps spending it now can I Thanks again to everyone for the advice and patients Regards, Ben. *EDIT* Cubes, thanks for confirming my understanding of the coil/plug theory. It's good to know that the time spent researching isn't in vain. A bit of confirmation that I'm heading in the right direction makes me wanna keep going heh. Cheers.

Intercooler piping is a more simple way of saying what I said The section of piping I was referring to is the one that the factory BOV bolts on to, it's still a section of intercooler piping, it's just the one right before the throttle body Part of the inlet setup, so we're talking about the same thing. From what I have been able to find out, missfire issues related to spark plugs/coils and the like are not as clean cut as "works or doesn't". The general rule with electricity is that it will always follow the path with least resistance, so I can think of two situations that come to mind immediately that could cause it to missfire at say 14psi but not at 10psi. 1) At 10psi with my given turbo, you have a CFM of airflow. Obviously with the same given turbo at 14psi that airflow will be higher. The coilpacks/plugs may be able to adequately spark under the CFM or airflow forced into the chamber at 10psi but as the airflow increases it may reach a point where the plugs/coils can no longer provide adequate spark and as a result, the increased airflow "blows out" the spark before it jumps from the electrode to the earthed tip of the plug. The plugs/coils aren't necessarily faulty, just not up to the task, in my case if this were the problem I'd put it down to age, as brand new stock items should handle 14psi fine by all accounts. 2) This is the one that relates to electricity following the path of least resistance. If you have a damaged coil pack, say with splits in the side of the body, like some have posted pics of here, then you have a secondary outlet from which the spark can jump to an earthed point. Obviously this won't occur unless the path through the cracked housing to the block (earth) is less resistance (work) than travelling to the point of the plug through the electrode. At lower RPM (And possibly lower boost, higher boost increases pressure in the chamber obviously, I'm not sure if higher chamber pressure creates higher resistance between the electrode and the earth on the spark plug? Anyone?) the route through the electrode to the earth is less resistance (work) for the spark, but as the RPM (And possibly boost?) increases the resistance from electrode to earth on the spark plug increases, so the spark starts to jump to the alternate earth, because it's less resistance than going through the plug. (Please correct me if I'm wrong someone) And as a last thing about the fuel cut defender, I have heard about it, but I've also never read/heard anything about it cutting in before 16psi. I could easily be wrong, but that's about all the info I can find. Not trying to be a smartarse and say you're wrong or try to make you look bad, I just like to asses all my options before I make a decision. Right now my decision is to boost back to 12psi and leave it there until I can afford to replace my coils with splitfires, get a Bosche 040 pump, fuel pressure regulator and a full injector clean (the kind where they take them out of the car, duh). As for pushing it to the limit, I've owned my car 7 months now, the only mods I've done in that time are the FMIC, BOV and Pod filter. Just fitting the FMIC gave me a boost pressure increase to ~11psi once I got all the pipes tightened up correctly with no leaks, it was running about 9-9.5psi when completely stock. It had a 2.5" catback when I bought it. I've been doing -alot- of reading, talking to anyone I know who knows anything about RB20's and the conclusion I've come to is that 14psi is safe. My plan was to run ~13psi to be absolutely sure. Regards, Ben. *EDIT* I'm not trying to sound like I know it all, or alot, or anything for that matter. Just putting the thoughts I have on the missfiring under boost issue out there. It's all based on what I have access to read and the limited access I have to talk to people in the know, so I might very well be wrong. Writing it out like that also helps -ME- to better understand how -I- think on the topic and gives me a chance to have people who -do- know, critique and correct the way I think, so please don't take it the wrong way.

The general consensus from everything I have read and everyone I have spoken to is that the RB20DET with standard internals and standard ceramic turbo is safe to run daily at 14psi, obviously providing all items involved are in good condition to begin with. I -have- heard that the safe limit for an RB25DET setup is around the 10psi mark due to them having higher compression, and something about the boost pressure reading being plumbed into the wastegate actuator from the inlet manifold just before the throttle body, as opposed to the RB20DET taking it directly from the compressor housing on the turbo. Much better for the life of the turbo I believe. Regards, Ben.

Great thread!! I'll give that a shot tomorrow, thanks Ben.

Nono!! The plugs are brand new. My -old- plugs were Iridiums that came 1.1mm gapped, I regapped -those- plugs to fix the other missfire I had, before the boost controller. They started to miss again when I installed the controller and upped the boost, so today I replaced them with BCPR7ES NGK plugs, 0.8mm gapped from the factory. Sorry if I didn't explain it too well. Ben.

Thanks once again for the quick reply I won't worry about the lean missfire anymore, I promise :S Plugs are brand new as I stated in the original post so is there any way for me to easily determine if it's a coil or a stuffed igniter? When I eventually get a set of splitfires, do I get the coils/leads/igniter or just coils? Regards, Ben.

I don't know alot about this sorta thing, hell I don't know alot about anything really but I do know that 0.08mm is a Gnat's dick of a gap. Perhaps when you gapped them that small you damaged the electrode and thus when you gapped them back to 0.8mm they won't work properly? Just a thought.

Thanks for the fast and direct reply A lean missfire? Does it -feel- any different to a normal missfire. The missfire I'm currently getting feels exactly the same as the one I had last week that was caused by an almost dead coil pack and consequently damaged plug in #5. It was fixed with a new coilpack and a regap from 1.1mm to 0.8mm on all the plugs. As for hearing detonation, I have alot of cabin noise, due to a few old rubber seals and most of all my short shifter, which is all alloy, even the housing the ball joint thing sits in is alloy, and makes a hell of a lot of noise, so hearing it would be almost impossible compounded by the fact I don't know -exactly- what to listen for. I'm not experienced when it comes to listening for detonation, when it's happening will there be a performance decrease, is the noise loud? And which would you do, dyno and setup the bleeder properly (My guess), or take a chance that it's the fuel pump and go with that before a dyno? If I go the dyno route, how many hours am I looking at for the guys to run it up, give me a few power runs with a/f readings at the current boost level then eaither raise or lower the boost to a good compromise point between power/safety for the engine? Sorry for all teh questions. Just my nature I guess. I'm a firm believer that knowledge without understanding can be dangerous, so I like to understand why something is, not just that "it is". Can get annoying when people try to explain things to me heh Regards, Ben.

Hey all, First off, I have search for this particular problem and can't find a proper answer, so I apologise if I'm asking old questions, I just couldn't find a good clear answer. I installed the TurboTech boost controller and fiddled with it and got ~14psi set and took it for a good hard drive. It was missfiring at wide open throttle. My first thought was my plugs, which were NGK Iridiums, heat range 5 1.1mm gapped factory (I'd set them to 0.8mm though). Today I bought new NGK Coppers of 7 heat range and 0.8mm factory gap. Installed them and went for a drive. Missfire is for the most part gone, but still there under high load + wide open throttle. (Example: Wide open throttle + going uphill, straight line doesn't happen generally that I could tell) Basically I've put this down to the fact that while the stocker setup is good for 200rwkw (Or so most people on these forums say), perhaps my coils/igniter are just a bit old and aren't handling the boost even on the new plugs, or my fuel pump might not be doing so well. I can't afford to replace them with an 040 Bosche and a regulator or a set of splitfires just yet, so rather than drive with possible missfire when I give it a bit, I've turned the boost back down to ~12psi, if it keeps doing it, I'll drop it back to ~11psi where it was running fine. I was just looking for some educated input as to what/why I might be getting this problem. It's obviously not -just- plugs, since they are new now, and are the right heat range/gap for my application (again, according to the threads I've dug up on here). Am I right to assume my coils/igniter are just showing their age, or possibly the fuel pump, are there tests I can do to the components to find out which it is? Am I barking up the complete wrong tree and is it a common problem that is easily and cheaply fixed? Thanks in advance. Sorry again if I've asked something that's been covered, but I couldn't find any good clear answers. Regards, Ben.

Excellent dental equipment you have there. It looks so inviting, almost painless. When can I get an appointment?

Rofl... Carsl**s on the Gold Coast -are- exceptionally stupid. P.S: I don't know if this has been pointed out already, but Waz32gtst has TWO numbers, I want two numbers!!!! I feel left out now.

I completely agree. People need to be happy with the car they own. If you want a GTR so bad, wait another year instead of buying a GTS-T and save for the difference on a GTR. Don't go and buy a GTS-T and pretend it's a GTR. It's never going to be. I drive a 1990 R32 GTS-T and I am damn proud of my car. I love it. I wish I owned a GTR sure, everyone does, nearly everyone anyway, but I don't. In my opinion, putting GTR badging on anything but a GTR, detracts from the authenticity of the original product. GTR owners are not better people than GTS-T owners, although especially on the coast here, we see alot of "I have more money so I'm superior to you and wouldn't say hi to you on a cruise" attitude, which I think is fu****g pathetic. However; the least us GTS-T owners can do, is allow authentic GTR owners the credit that is due where their ride is concerned. That's just me and I am that way because I hate fakeness. People are different. Wankers will always put GTR badges on their GTS-Ts. They will always put HSV badges on their not-even-s-pack commodores and they will always think they are the king sh!t for doing it and that noone can tell that it's not the real deal. Just laugh at them and move on. Ben.

Hey all. I'm not a real vocal member of SAU but I've been reading and learning here since I bought my 'line in Nov05. I'd love to come, even if I have no idea what it's currently about Date/Time would be great. If I'm not busy and the finances are in something that even barely resembles order, I'm keen as. Would be great to get out for a drive with some other people that just love cars. The Gold Coast attitude seems to have shifted from "Man I love fast, good looking, tastefully modified cars" to something along the lines of "If you don't have $50,000 of your daddy's money to spend on your paint job, you're too sh!t for me to even talk to". Erm, /rant off. So yeah, count me in if I can be there. Ben.

Monitor has been sold. Thanks for all the interest people. Regards, Ben.

Ok, seems the friend is now unsure as to whether or not he wants the screen because now he wants a skyline, who can blame him though? Lol. I've received 3 pm/emails in regards to people interested in buying it for $800+postage. I am going to the post office after I finish posting this with the box measurements, I'm going to get a freight+insurance cost and then post that info here. I will be replying to the 3 pm/emails I've received and the first person to get back to me with a definite yes gets first dibs. Cheers, Ben.