What Have You Done To Your Stagea Lately?

[slippylotion]

Today I pulled out the front upper arms to re-grease the superpro offset bushes, sick of the car sounding like an XB Falcon! Hopefully this has fixed it.

[S T A R 3 3]

Most likely you've ended up with a reasonably bad boost leak....do you have a boost gauge, and if so what does it show.

Go back around the whole job and check every hose is seated square, and every hose clamp is tight. The easy way to check a hose clamp is to push hard on the screw part - if it turns on the pipe it is too loose. But even if they are tight, the hoses have to be properly seated on the pipes, ie square on and good overlap

Howdy,

thanks for all your input!

I Double checked the hoses and een had a mate of mine come by after I had installed it yesterday to ensure everything had been connected properly. No problem.

I spent all day wiring up a boost guage (Apexi mechanical) and finally got it to work.

on idle: -0.5 to -0.6

driving: -0.7

OK, so im assuming it should be idling on 0?

[slippylotion]

It should read 0 on idle. It will read in vacuum or your case -0.** on idle and light throttle cruise.

Edited June 2, 2012 by slippylotion

[Duncan]

Howdy,

thanks for all your input!

I Double checked the hoses and een had a mate of mine come by after I had installed it yesterday to ensure everything had been connected properly. No problem.

I spent all day wiring up a boost guage (Apexi mechanical) and finally got it to work.

on idle: -0.5 to -0.6

driving: -0.7

OK, so im assuming it should be idling on 0?

No, that sounds reasonably normal. Engines are almost always on vacuum (ie less than 0) because they suck air in. the more you open the throttle the more air they suck so the more vacuum you'll see. But with a turbo car of course, as it comes on boost it moves from vacuum (negative) to boooost (positive), but only when the engine is under load.

Unfortunately that means that you need someone to watch the boost guage while you floor it for a while. Up a hill is best because boost builsd more quickly and the car accelerates more slowly.

[S T A R 3 3]

No, that sounds reasonably normal. Engines are almost always on vacuum (ie less than 0) because they suck air in. the more you open the throttle the more air they suck so the more vacuum you'll see. But with a turbo car of course, as it comes on boost it moves from vacuum (negative) to boooost (positive), but only when the engine is under load.

Unfortunately that means that you need someone to watch the boost guage while you floor it for a while. Up a hill is best because boost builsd more quickly and the car accelerates more slowly.

OK so took it for a drive today and found a steady incline.

During acceleration, the gauge hovered around 0.5 and whilst in 2nd gear at around 3000rpm onwards I could feel the car 'stuttering'.

Thoughts? I think this is getting a bit too over my head for me.

[scotty nm35]

Finished stripping the heads off today and cleaned up the block ready for the new oem head gaskets and L19 studs. It all looks pretty clean in there now, hopefully an oil flush will clean out any residual coolant I haven't managed to get to.

Luckily it looks like just a split head gasket...

[M35]

Today, i pulled the glovebox apart to investigate what sorts of plug connectors the DVD rom's got, and found the glovebox light was blown. Replaced the bulb, all good now. Also cleaned the pollen filter. Still not able to get the reversing camera wired up as the camera wont work for some reason(ntsc). Also gave it a wash.

[slippylotion]

Finished stripping the heads off today and cleaned up the block ready for the new oem head gaskets and L19 studs. It all looks pretty clean in there now, hopefully an oil flush will clean out any residual coolant I haven't managed to get to.

Luckily it looks like just a split head gasket...

Gotta love how E85 keeps the pistons and combustion chambers clean.

Is that the knock sensor in the valley?

[Sunkist]

Gotta love how E85 keeps the pistons and combustion chambers clean.

Is that the knock sensor in the valley?

yeh i asked him if it was yesterday and yeh apparently it is the knock sensor

[scotty nm35]

yeh i asked him if it was yesterday and yeh apparently it is the knock sensor

What's this Aaron? A non random post? That's not like you...

Yeh Paul, the pistons were only a little coated in carbon, a light spray with gasket stripper had them polished like new.

And yes, that is the knock sensor, not that the Fcon cares about it much.

[Sunkist]

far.

Q

[Jezboosted]

Finished stripping the heads off today and cleaned up the block ready for the new oem head gaskets and L19 studs. It all looks pretty clean in there now, hopefully an oil flush will clean out any residual coolant I haven't managed to get to.

Luckily it looks like just a split head gasket...

In Pic 1 is that a cast mark on the engine mount or a crack ?

[S T A R 3 3]

OK so took it for a drive today and found a steady incline.

During acceleration, the gauge hovered around 0.5 and whilst in 2nd gear at around 3000rpm onwards I could feel the car 'stuttering'.

Thoughts? I think this is getting a bit too over my head for me.

could the issues that I have been experiencing be a coilpack issue? I remember experiencing something similar with another car of mine years ago..

[scotty nm35]

In Pic 1 is that a cast mark on the engine mount or a crack ?

Just a casting mark.

could the issues that I have been experiencing be a coilpack issue? I remember experiencing something similar with another car of mine years ago..

It sounds like it, Stuttering is usually either plugs that are fouled or coil packs breaking down. It could also be low voltage/bad connection in the coil loom. Without more information about the car's mods and power level its hard to guess the cause.

[scotty nm35]

Studs turned up today, all went in well bar one, it looks like the thread is a little chewed. I will have to buy a long M11 x 1.25 tap tomorrow.

I also match ported the upper and lower plenum halves and throttle, the head ports looked pretty good but the runners were all over the place.

[Sunkist]

nice! gonna do the exhaust ports?

[scotty nm35]

Nope. lol, I don't trust myself around the valves without removing them and I don't want to get a stray piece of alloy in the oil galleries. Do you think it matters? The area of the 6 ports is a crapload bigger than the turbo and wastegate. It should be fine mate. There is definitely a heap of material I could remove there though.

[Sunkist]

im gonna talk you into it lol..

i think you should.. why not its all apart.. just be a true hampton parker and shove a sock down there and vacuum it out before you take the sock out lol

[scotty nm35]

Haha, thats how I cleaned the gasket off the block using the gasket stripper. Perhaps I should...

[Sunkist]

do it.