Zahos

Yes, you should think of the long term, which is why I said that you pick one suited to your application... If you're like me, and you're not planning on many mods, then a smaller cooler is better.... If you are planning on spending lots of $$$ for bigger turbo's where you need to flow more air through it, then certainly go for a bigger cooler, but make sure you dont go overboard... Also dont confuse boost with flow... In your case, if you still have the standard turbo, then I'd ssay your intercooler is overkill. 300 x 90 is quite a large cross sectional area, and while your inlet temps may be down a little, your throttle response is suffering. For example, theink of the extremities: 1. You have no cooler. The air flows through the pipe, and a constant speed at everypoint before it reaches the plenum. 2. You have an intercooler the size of a house. It will take a long time for your turbo to preasurise the intercooler, before the air in the outlet pipe can have the same preasure as the air in the inlet pipe. Although relatively speaking, your cooler may not be as big, for short burst, you are robbing yourself some power. Now imagine the second example again, but with a turbo half the size of the house... It wont take long for that turbo, to preasurise that intercooler, because it can flow more air, ie: more air volume per second... So then again, if you have a much larger turbo, capable of flowing more air, or you are planning on getting one, then yes, your cooler is well worth it... just my 2c

It would, but consider this.... Standard boost is 5psi, then jumps to 7psi The preasure relief valve will have to be adjusted to hold of any air getting to the wastegate up to 5psi only. If you set it to hold off more than that, you will get spikes. Also, air only flows 1 direction through that valve, so you WILL need the check valve aswell, otherwise there will be air trapped between the valve, and the wastegate, and iboost will be worse after the fist gear change (unless the factory solenoid manages to remove that air) Basically with this setup, it's all or nothing if you ask me, I have tried numerous combinations.

OK, to shed some light on the matter... I can't justify spending the cash on an EBC, so I went for the setup in the autospeed article "Audi DIY boost controller 2" I must admit, it works very well, as I can control wastegate creep with the preasure relief valve, and check valve, and I hold (relatively) steady boost with the the preasure regulator valve. However bleeds valves are not as good b/c they can be affected by: - underboonet temparatures - ambient air temperatures And EBC has no problem with these, and can control a steady level of boost regardless. I have not used an EBC in my own car, but I have seen how well it works in other cars, and it is more reliable than a bleed valve. But we all have our preferences, and our own reasons for those preferences. At the end of the day, it is up to you what you think is more suitable for your own application.... Zahos

Let me put it into perspective for you.... I have a VR4 cooler which measures up to about 450 x 210 x 70.... It flows extremely well, I haven't modified the front bar to expose it, and it rarely gets heat soaked (probably only in traffic on a hot day). So a cooler that is 800 x 300 x 75 will be overkill, and probably rob you of power.... A cooler tht is 600 x 300 x 75 is still pretty big, and probably more than you need, Bigger is not better when it comes to intercoolers. You need to pick one that is suited to your application. In my case, I am aiming for about 180 - 200rwkw, and the VR4 cooler should do fine....

just a normal bleed valve is crap. That article on brilliant boost was crap too. An EBC is the best option, but if you cant justify forking out the cash for something you could do cheaper (and almost as well), then go for this setup. You should refer to part 1 of this article. If you dont go all the way and get the check valve listed in part 2, then dont bother at all. I got the fist 2 valves from Norgren themselves (listed in the article). Give em a call and they will send to you via credit card purchase. For the check valve, I called everywhere, and the only ppl able to help me were ENZED. So give them a call for the check valve, and you could also get all your hoses and fittings from them too. Zahos

But that is what confuses me now.... If you take these readings while the engine is warm, your car could be knocking like crazy, but you set these knock levels at that time. Then in the monitor section, as that reading is relative the level you have adjusted, it would still show a low figure!?!?!?!? So the knock level shown in the monitor section, is only relative to: how bad your car was knocking at the time you set it. So how does this figure give you a true indication of knock? This was my argument to begin with.... It's giving me lots of headaches... I'm the type of person that doesn't just accept things, I need to know how it all works...

If it were me I'd spend the rest of the cash finishing off the exhaust... - 3" dump pipe - 3" front - 3" hi-flow cat. If u want to keep standard boost for a while, then this will be the bottle neck you should take of first. $1K should be more than enough, it should cost you around the $500 - $600 mark. Then go get yourself a decent panel filter (~$100 new) Then a boost guage And finally, boost it up a little. That will keep you smiling for a few weeks.

It's suppossed to be like that...

So what have you set the knock level to be in those rpm ranges? Depending on what these are, it determines the value in the monitor section like you say. For example, when I fist did it, the car was warm, and so those 2 values it bases the average on were 70 and 90 respectively. From that, my knock readout in the monitor was never over 7 on idle, and dropped to 1 when cruising / WOT. Now I set them again when it was cold and they are in the low 40's, so I peak at 19 / 20 on idle, and drop to 7 - 9 on WOT. How is everyone else's setup?

Hey Busky, thanks for the link. OK, I am a little less confised, but I still don't fully undersatnd it.... I can't be bothered with it anymore though. I dont think that it tells you what lever you have gone over the raw reading.... For example, my "acceptable" levers for the 2 rpm ranges specified are: 42 and 47 respectively. Sometimes the raw value has gone up to 130 when driving for more than 1 hour, but the readout in the monitor section is still only 9. 47 + 9 = 56 so that cant be right. I guess we just stay tuned to that site for the next update...

Nah, I haven't tuned the second file, so I haven't tried switching... I might this weekend though, as I finally booked it in for a dyno tune... Yeah that knock sensor readind pisses me of. It makes no sense..... Did you figure out what the relationship is between the readind in the monitor section, and the reading in sensor chk? I did 4 years of engineering maths at uni, and I cant figure the prick out!!!!

Yeah, thats what I am thinking (otherwise why would it be in the monitor section) But obvioulsy it has some correlation with the values that can be set in the settings section. I wonder how this value would differ if the the setting were changed? So then.... what should the two knock values for 1650rpm and 3650 rpm set to????

All this I understand, but it does not explain the correlation between the 2 different readouts for knock... The one in the setting menu, hangs around the 100 mark when idling, and increases as rev it out. The one in the monitor section peaks at 20 on idle, and drops to 9 as I rev it out.. Which figure do I go by?

ARGH34, just go somewhere else... this guy is trying to rip you! It seriously only a 5 or 10 min job....

But that still doesn't answer my question... See the SAFC has a number that it spits out in: settings -> Knk level ans another on the monitors. The one on the monitors is relative to the one found in settings.... For example when I start the car cold, the reading is 40 (in settings), so I set the knock levels for 1650 and 3650 (that's all it lets you set) to 40. Then, as the car warms, the number it shows for the current rmp grows to about 100, sometimes more. The munber in the monitor section, is always around 20 on idle (when the car fully warms up), and about 9 when driving.... I dont know what the difference is between the 2..... Does any1 know????? DJ_L3THAL: I have attached a pic of the ecu as you look at it mounted in the side panel. the light blue (23) and light green(24) are the wires for the knock sensors. Connect it to 24 (cylinders 4-6) as I have read that they lean out first.....

One thing I haven't figured out yet is the knock reading on the SAFC2... The reading kept telling me 0, so I got into: settings -> Knk level and set the knock levels for 1650 and 3650 rpm to whatever they were at the time (45 I think??) Anyhow, if I stay on that screen, as the car warms up the knock reading goes to about 100. If I go to one of the screens in the monitor section, the knock goes up to about 10 on idle, and down between 0 and 3 when driving... Can someone tell me what the differences are? I have no idea what either mean now Thanks George

Here are the pics from the other thread....

mildly modified.... (bolt on crap) But unique may have offered insurance b/c it is an import. You might be denied b/c it is an aus delivered model...

Strange.... I called and they gave me a quote for my car.... About $1400 if I remeber correctly....

Yey Mildman, where is Response and what are their contact details? Do they have a website?

Has anyone tried just putting the inductive pickup around the wires that go to coil pack #1???? This is how I usually do it.....

I've still got tears in my eyes...... He makes me laugh, coz it's pretty close to how I speak to my missus sometimes... She just ignores me now, but I think at one stage she musta thought I was retarded....

hahahahahahahahahahahaha.... sh1t.... I cant stop laughing... I love this guy.....

the first mark is 0 deg. Each subsequent mark is another 5 deg. Nissan recomends you set your timing to 15 deg (which would be the third white mark). I usually set mine to 17 or 18. I can get it that far with very little pinging, but not past 18. Like I said, make sure the revs are also at 650rpm.... it will change as you advance/retard timing. Hope this helps

I usually do it in the following manner: - take that u shaped hose off (the one sitting on top of the covers at the front of the engine) - unscrew the first 4 allan bolts on the plastic cover, that hides the coil packs - lift cover witha flat head screwdriver - put u shaped hosw back on - use the inductive pickup on the wire going to coil pack #1 after adjusting your timing, just put it all back the way it was..... Also make sure your revs are at 650 when doing the timing, and when you have set the timing..... Use the screw on the drivers side of the plunum , right at the back, facing out the side of the car... clockwise to decrease revs, anti clockwise to increase.