pixel8r

Hehe, I just washed my stagea using my brand new ENJO car glove and cloth and I was so impressed I thought I'd take some photos to show off the "shininess" The only "photoshopping" was in removing numberplates etc. and here's a couple pics of the full car, just for good measure. Its completely stock in the looks department.

This button changes your torque split for the ATTESA AWD system. It doesn't actually "lock" anything - so its not like a fixed 50:50 split. As you might know, the AWD system is controlled electronically (the ETS part of ATTESA ETS stands for Electronic Torque Split). Under normal operation (4wd button OFF), the torque split is about 5% front: 95% rear or something thereabouts. When traction loss is detected (or anticipated) on any wheel, the AWD system will direct torque away from that wheel. Or in simple form, it will change the torque split anywhere from 5:95 to 50:50 as you are driving along, as it sees the need, in order to maintain full traction. The difference with the 4wd button ON, is that instead of defaulting to 5:95 torque split, it will default to 50:50. However if your front wheels start slipping for whatever reason, it will still transfer more torque towards the rear, therefore it is not strictly locked to 50:50. I've seen this happen on a dyno - it definitely wasn't 50:50 once the revs started getting about say 2500rpm (with 4wd button ON). It works on gforce sensors so it wont wait for the wheels to start slipping before it transfers torque to the front or rear or whatever. It kind of "anticipates" traction loss, and in my experience it works VERY well

I have an SAFC and it works great!! getting very good fuel economy and nice power to match

I switched from bp ultimate to shell vpower a few months ago and noticed my car ran richer, and not as smooth. It was ok at first but eventually I figured my car just didn't run as well as with bp. So I've since switched back to bp ultimate and couldn't be happier. I basically just wanted the savings from the fuel dockets to get 4c a litre off with shell, but noticed that bp was often about 2c a litre cheaper anyway where I live. I'm not a fan of the whole fuel discounts thing - it just means they bump up their prices to accommodate it, and therefore rip off those that dont have dockets on hand... In my experience bp gives better performance and just makes the car run smoother and generally better all-round. Fuel economy was about the same on both, couldn't really pick any difference there. I had my car tuned on bp ultimate - not sure if that would make a difference...it could have affected timing I guess, which at that stage was not advanced at all.

I may be wrong on the cause of AFM failure there. I've heard that K&N oiled filters can cause problems with AFM's (which sounds like it may be false anyway) and kind of linked this "rumour" to my problem at the time. This was in the silvia anyway. I cleaned the AFM contacts (using metho and leaving it out for 30 mins to dry) and this almost always gave a noticeable improvement. Its also quite possible my K&N filter had been re-oiled by a workshop when the car was in for a service somewhere. I also realise the difference in city L/100km figures between cities, which is why I mentioned Adelaide. I feel sorry for those who need to drive into the city for work in almost every other capital city As a side note, driving around Brisbane mostly off-peak and using the motorways to avoid the city, I acheived almost as good fuel economy as in the country. And something I forgot to mention, is to make sure you take it easy when the engine is running cold!! This is common sense and applies to any car but it can make a big difference to fuel economy (not to mention reliability).

Ok, I could possibly be among the luckiest stagea owners with regards to my current fuel economy!! I usually measure my fuel economy every time I fuel up, by dividing the Litres that went in with the km's travelled since last fuel-up. This is the most reliable method of calculating fuel economy. When I bought the car it was averaging 13.5-14.5L/100km (note that its a S2). I'm now getting around 11.5L/100km in Adelaide suburbs traffic, although most of that is off-peak. This is including the use of air-con about 20-30% of the time. Before that I got a figure of 12.9L/100km where I was using air-con about 70-80% of the time and in more peak-hour conditions. Last good country run (interstate to Brisbane and back to Adelaide) I averaged 10.2L/100km and with air-con off I managed 9L/100km - no kidding!! The mods I have that help fuel economy are: - 3" turbo back exhaust. My opinion is that an exhaust will help a bit but without an SAFC or similar computer you will not see the best from it. In my case whilst it frees up the engine it also made it run richer so thats why you need some way of tuning it to clean it up (and keep away from R&R). - GT30 turbo - more lag means for city driving I spend most of my time off-boost. not an ideal setup for most people but the fuel savings makes it sort of worthwhile. Anyone with a GT28 highflow would have similar results I imagine - less initial response (lag) yet better fuel economy. - Apexi panel air filter - I've tried K&N before but they are oiled and I've had so much trouble with oil stuffing up the AFM (at one point causing the car to stall), that I ditched it for a cheapie bosch one and had no more trouble. The apexi one I bought 2nd hand - its a cloth type filter (like K&N) but is dry-type so no problems at all. I still get plenty of induction noise so its obviously giving more airflow than stock. - MV Auto shift kit - not sure if this improves economy at all - I dont think I noticed a difference - it was my first mod since I bought the car stock. - SAFC + GOOD tune. When I first had it installed the tune wasn't that good so I didn't notice much difference other than more performance. Fuel economy stayed much the same since not much was altered with the tune. I recently had it retuned, including advancing the ignition timing - picked up 10awkw extra and with the more efficient tune using the SAFC, I'm using almost 1L/100km less on average than before the tune. - I always use full synthetic oil - not sure how much difference that would make. Thats about all I can think of. I do have a manual boost controller set to 12psi but thats not helping my fuel economy. If you set your boost setting lower I imagine you could gain fuel economy at the expense of max power - depending on your driving style. I generally do not try to drive slow everywhere - I just try to be smart if I'm not in a "go fast" mood. Things like letting the revs coast down instead of early braking and keeping the throttle/revs constant when practical. But like I said its more a habit than me constantly trying to be "good". Any good opportunity to hit boost and I will take it apologies for the long post but hope it helps...

Very nice work brendan!! That would be rwkw i assume? Glad you're happy with Boostworx. I know I certainly wont be going anywhere else from now on... Just out of interest, at what revs does your car start boosting and roughly what revs does it reach full boost at? With mine I can feel the turbo start boosting up at about 2500rpm but it doesn't really pull hard until around 3500rpm and I'd guess full boost (12psi for me) is between 3500-4500rpm somewhere and after that it drops back to 9psi by the time it reaches the limiter. And although I only gained 10 extra awkw when I had it tuned by boostworx, the midrange improvement was very noticeable and the car felt faster and more responsive all round.

I own a stagea, 1658kg's so a tad heavier than skylines. Its got 160kw at all 4 wheels and I average ~12.5L/100km city driving. Up to 13.5L/100km when using aircon all the time. Recently got 9L/100km on open country roads - cold morning, no aircon (and with the car fully loaded up too). Pretty happy with that. almost as economical as a falcodore wagon and yet waaay quicker!

As a bit of a RB vs VQ example, you could compare the Stagea S2/R34 engine RB25DET (neo) with the Stagea S3 engine VQ25DET. The RB25DET (neo) puts out 206kw and has 333N-m of torque (343 in the R34 skyline i think). The VQ25DET puts out 206kw (could be more?) and has 400N-m of torque. Thats quite a jump. There are a number of differences, the major one being completely different engine design, with the VQ being a V6 as opposed to the RB which is a straight 6. This is the only current factory turbo'd VQ engine I'm aware of. I'd say its definitely possible to turbo a VQ engine and with good results, but like others mentioned there are few aftermarket options for it. I'm looking forward to the official power figures of the new GTR and I also wonder if the performance potential will be as great as with the current line-up of GTRs.

Just too hard to leave the old lifestyle we know behind. Have many friends here and decided we just needed a break. Job prospects have been picking up quite considerably in adelaide also... Its a bit weird but hey...

The 350Z also has a similar feature. You can have the radio get louder as your revs increase. Not sure if that would work in practice but it would be interesting to find out.

All the best with the tune next week. I guarantee you'll be happy with Shaun's work and definitely with the price. You're gonna have one VERY quick stagea...

A further update on my latest tune (first post) - I'm actually back in Adelaide now, several factors told us that Adelaide will always be home to us.... I've just driven to brisbane almost 2 weeks ago and drove back to adelaide middle of this week, and what I found was that the car was pinging a little on the 96 octane fuel when doing a bit of spirited overtaking So had to take it a bit careful whilst running on the (crap) standard premium fuels. This side of Parkes there are no places I'm aware of that have 98 octane fuel so we had 2 full tanks of 96 octane until we finally got to refuel with the good stuff. It would only ping when I stomped the foot to the floor to drop it back to 2nd, so boost would hit 12psi straight away and the car would launch pretty hard (even at that speed), but on one occasion I did hear a touch of pinging so we took it a bit easier after that. So even then it wasn't pinging heaps, just on one isolated occasion... Its not Shaun's fault. It was a very hot day when I had it tuned anyway so it was already tuned safe for hot weather and its hard to allow for lower octane fuel without sacrificing too much usable performance. Plus he did mention that I should only be cruising at under 3000rpm when on lower octane fuel so therefore there shouldn't be a problem. On 98 octane fuel its had no trouble whatsoever, not here in ~40deg heat and not in brisbane with 35ish deg and 3 million% humidity (well close enough). So just a word of caution to anyone driving in the country - go carefully on the 96 octane fuels. IMO there is more difference between them and BP ultimate 98 than just the octane rating. And for the record it did run well on 96 octane fuel without any trouble when cruising at 110 and when accelerating normally up to 110. All in all it handled the 2000km trip each way very very nicely, and still runs like a dream.

Further clarification on the 'S' (4wd) button left of the steering wheel. Normally your AWD (ATTESA) system will default to 100% RWD until it requires traction towards the front, which it measures using a 16-bit computer and G-Force sensors. If it detects (or anticipates) traction loss on any wheel it will direct torque away from that wheel. It can vary the torque split anywhere between 100% rear and 50:50 front-rear. When the 'S' button is turned ON, this operation kind of works in reverse. It will stay in 50:50 until it needs more traction at the rear - in which case it will transfer drive further to the rear - anywhere up to 100% rear. So either you can set it to default to 100% rear (S button OFF) or 50:50 (S button ON). In either case it will still adjust the torque split as necessary to maintain traction. Hopefully this makes sense. For more info, look up wikipedia on "ATTESA". Its a pretty cool and unique AWD system if you ask me...

This is normal operation over 80km/h. I'm pretty sure mine's done it below 80km/h but as a general rule when over 80km/h at fairly constant throttle the torque converter will lock up. The revs may drop a little also. If you put your foot down a bit (its usually fairly sensitive) it will unlock to allow you to accelerate again...much like dropping back a gear when you put your foot down a bit. It will lock and unlock as needed, and it often only takes slight movements of your right foot to do this. Hope that helps

what he said. Its a feature, not a problem. Some days mine takes longer to hit 4th gear than others, but I have a book from the car dealer I bought it from that says the transmission will not change into 4th gear (OD) until it is either warmed up or your speed requires it (i assume that means if you go over ~80km/h when its cold it should still change into 4th?). If you find it has trouble going into 4th gear when it is definitely warm (ie. you've been driving for over 10 mins or so) then I'd be getting it checked out by an automatic transmission specialist. When was the last time you had your Automatic Trans serviced?

This is a fairly common question over in the Stagea section. Stageas use the same AWD system as the R33 GTR. The R32 was the only one where you could pull the fuse and thats all. In R33's/34's doing this will burn out your clutch packs. I'm assuming the R34 AWD system is the same ATTESA (maybe with a few tweaks?). You should be able to put it in RWD by removing the front tailshaft (the one from the gearbox transfer case to the front diff). Four bolts each end and apparently the transfer case is sealed so no need to cover that hole. I'm pretty sure you need to remove the fuse as well. I've never done it myself but I've had it done in order to use a 2WD dyno and it works fine. So basically DONT just pull the fuse - you'll destroy your ATTESA AWD system. Personally I'd prefer to leave it in AWD. On stageas some people have noticed about a 1 second difference between 1/4 mile times with AWD vs RWD on the same car (AWD being faster, no traction loss, better weight/torque distribution). AWD is also safer in the wet. So if you're not doing burnouts/doughnuts then just leave it in AWD

Just want to tell everyone that I went to boostworx for a tune (safc) recently and I would highly recommend Shaun's work to anyone!! I gained 10kw just in tuning/ignition timing because my last tuner was a little too conservative (was still a good tune, but just maybe he doesn't specialise in nissan/apexi tuning as much as others). Shaun's ability with skylines/stageas is top notch - as many people on this forum will agree. I'm very happy with my car's extra performance! Worth every penny! (prices are very low too) EDIT: P.S. when I say the other tuner was conservative, for example my AFR's were sitting below 11:1 and ignition timing was either stock or a bit retarded ...Shaun managed to get the AFR's up to a flat line at 12:1 and advanced the timing whilst still keeping it safe.

Yeah I know. Otherwise i'd be happy to put up with the current boost controller but just up the boost a couple psi so it AVERAGES 11-12psi rather than just pokes at it initially... but a decent boost controller costs a lot of money and mine cost $30 off ebay so I'm not complaining at all Its a needle valve type (same as the $22 boost controller on this forum) so fairly reliable too. My GT30 turbo really wants more boost than I give it (would be most efficient around 14-18 psi i'm guessing), but I'm moving interstate and will be training to rekindle my career in IT so once again the car is pushed further down the priority list The biggest thing I noticed from my last tune is that I gained 10kw mainly through ignition timing - and the combination of ignition timing and more efficient tune with the SAFC has made the car noticeably more responsive right throughout the rev range. The car just feels a lot faster with more get up and go. I'm loving it $150 well spent! If anyone in SA has not been to boostworx yet, GO THERE. Your car will love you for it

Just thought I'd put forward another bonus for driving interstate. (re: the above post). After arriving in Adelaide (drove our stagea from Brisbane to Adelaide after buying it on the Gold Coast the day before), there were almost no scratches on the front bumper anywhere...which was GREAT! I was a little worried that stone chips etc might be a problem when driving all the distance but all you need to do is not drive right behind trucks, move to the outer side of your lane when vehicles go past the other way, and common sense things like that - and you should be fine. Plus like everyone else said - the interstate drive is a great experience and well worth the effort!

Thank you and same to you

EDIT: removed post (would've helped if I'd read the previous post properly... )

no probs with watching tv (everything in moderation - but other christadelphian's standards/conscience may vary) and have no probs with easter either. We dont celebrate it as such because we remember jesus' life, death and resurrection every sunday. These days the spirit of easter (and christmas) is more about goodwill to others and maybe even reuniting with family (more so at christmas). We do have a different lifestyle however, being less interested in "worldly" activities and more interested in how our lives shape up compared to Jesus. Its a very personal life choice and it doesn't need to be all about rules as some may see it. We have a lot of friends and a great "community" environment so its quite fun actually. cheers.

Just got my stag retuned at BoostWorx here in SA. Actually they only have a 2WD dyno so we drove over to Turbo Tune (5 mins away) to use their 4WD dyno. Shaun from BoostWorx still did all the work however, we just borrowed their dyno for a bit. Not a bad result, since it was tuned by another guy only a few months ago. Gained an extra 10kw at the top end and some nice gains in the midrange. AFR's were sitting below 11:1 but are now a nicer 12:1. The extra 10kw is basically due to ignition timing however the safc tuning improved the midrange somewhat. Here's the pics... (Max 158kw and note this is at all 4 wheels) I left the boost at 11-12 psi since I was happy with the power output and more boost would only affect the top end. All in all it is still a bit laggy but with a big turbo like the GT30 its to be expected. Full boost seems to be around 4500rpm or thereabouts, although it starts winding up around 2500rpm. Its not all bad though, because cruising around off-boost saves on fuel P.S. I do have the graph showing the official reading "157.9kw" but the other two graphs I have shown above were more meaningful - showing boost and AFR's.

christadelphian. bit of a mouthful but a name's a name. Simply put, I believe in the Bible. This forum's not the place to expand on that any further. Anyone wanting more info is welcome to PM me cheers