rev210

In discussion with my brother today about his 69 dodge charger project a very similar topic came up about the shift smoothness he was planning to retain on his proposed efi hemi transplant. The car will be a sunday cruiser with some occasional event racing. He suggested this as a solution he was looking into for the same reasons (he is turboing the 6L hemi) ; http://www.powertraincontrolsolutions.com/content-4.html

Whats the most important thing to you? Is it "bling/rice'? Is it better safety (the standard gtst needs some help with traction)? Is it straight line accelleration? Is it reliabillity? Depending on how you answer these sorts of questions you will get some slightly different answers. Remember that search is your friend. If you are handy with a spanner the $2k goes alot further.

I just fitted an R34 intercooler to my series 1 stagea. It cost me $80. Bunged it in on the weekend. There is the obvious difference in size but also if you examine the cooling fins they are perforated on the R34 intercooler meaning greater surface area to volume ratios for heat transfer. It has all the power headroom I need for a 220awkw-ish turbo upgrade. I am also going to run a set of cams in the motor later on so the average power will be significantly up adding to the potential heat load but, I am completely unconcerned about heat soak and the abillity of the R34 intercooler to do a decent job. A water spray kit gives me everything back I might lose on a sustained flogging and costs bugger all to make. You can skin a cat lots of ways. The R34 intercooler is a good stepping stone till you make your mind up about the actual power goals and how much money you don't have to spend on other important supporting mods.

Bass, yours looks alot nicer

No it won't suck closed. There is simply not enough flexible pipe left for that to happen. It will never happen. For those wondering where to get a 13cm 3inch bit of pipe off cut, most exhaust places have them. If you are getting exhaust work done get a bit for free.

Chris, It has a proven effect, the ribbed section of the intake pipe causes turbulence and produces restriction Vs a smooth internal surfaced pipe. It's a $5 / 5min job. you have nothing to lose but 5min and $5.

some testing was done some time ago both dyno and manometer and there was a reduction in restriction by replacement with a metal pipe. The dyno from memory showed 7rwhp on a stock engine, I wold guess it would increase as the restriction would become more of an issue with higher flow.

you get 7+ hp for doing it regardless. Not sure when the stock one sucks closed but, I assume you would need a fair bit of power to do so anyway.

It will never suck closed....ever.

The pipe won't suck closed there is now 13cm of steel in the place it would normally do so. The replacement removes the turbulence of that flexible section in terms of airflow, so you get a small power increase (7hp or so) as well.

I think they would try and race and then a ninja would leap out and attack and kill them both for trying to fulfill an internet nerds dream and for participation in a VS thread. Go here to find out the real truth of this thread and how it all makes sense. www.realultimatepower.net YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO!

Hi all. I have been on the forums a while and have done this intake mod a few times without realising that I hadn't put the info up on how to do it. This mod is as good as any replacement intake pipe you may find for sale but, it may not have the 'bling' you are after. ******** Airflow is improved / Less restriction *********** ******** Pipe will never suck closed ******************* Looks $5 performs like $150. This is the stagea's intake pipe but, its exactly the same as the R33 gtst one and a few others. All you need: - Scissors - A 13cm peice of off-cut 3inch metal pipe. Stainless is nice but, mild steel is fine. (usually free) - Two appropriate sized 3inch diameter hose clamps ($5) How to: * Remove the intake pipe from the vehicle. * Block the turbo inlet with a clean rag to prevent dirt getting in. * Cut a section out of the middle of the flexible intake pipe where shown in pic 1. Scissors do this easy enough. Note to take the middle 2 bumps out cutting along the 'valleys' either side of each bump. * Take a moment to clean out the peices of intake pipe you are going to re-use. * Grab the off-cut 3inch diameter metal pipe section and cut it down to 13cm. 13cm is as long as you can realistically go.You can go much shorter 10cm or less if you like and this will give you more flex for re-fit if you want it or if you are using an aftermarket pod that sits in a slightly different position. Run a bit of sand paper or a file over the edges to remove any sharp bits that might cut the rubber pipe. * Push the 13 cm metal pipe gently but, firmly into the each side of the two intake pipe peices with hose clamps already loose but in place. * tighten clamps * re-install Off you go!

Hi all. I have been on the forums a while and have done this intake mod a few times without realising that I hadn't put the info up on how to do it. This mod is as good as any replacement intake pipe you may find for sale but, it may not have the 'bling' you are after. ******** Airflow is improved / Less restriction *********** ******** Pipe will never suck closed ******************* Looks $5 performs like $150. This is the stagea's intake pipe but, its exactly the same as the R33 gtst one and a few others. All you need: - Scissors - A 13cm peice of off-cut 3inch metal pipe. Stainless is nice but, mild steel is fine. (usually free) - Two appropriate sized 3inch diameter hose clamps ($5) How to: * Remove the intake pipe from the vehicle. * Block the turbo inlet with a clean rag to prevent dirt getting in. * Cut a section out of the middle of the flexible intake pipe where shown in pic 1. Scissors do this easy enough. Note to take the middle 2 bumps out cutting along the 'valleys' either side of each bump. * Take a moment to clean out the peices of intake pipe you are going to re-use. * Grab the off-cut 3inch diameter metal pipe section and cut it down to 13cm. 13cm is as long as you can realistically go.You can go much shorter 10cm or less if you like and this will give you more flex for re-fit if you want it or if you are using an aftermarket pod that sits in a slightly different position. Run a bit of sand paper or a file over the edges to remove any sharp bits that might cut the rubber pipe. * Push the 13 cm metal pipe gently but, firmly into the each side of the two intake pipe peices with hose clamps already loose but in place. * tighten clamps * re-install Off you go!

You get what you pay for and that intercooler is 'crap'. It's got a very bad end tank design that doesn't even attempt to direct airflow. If you are going to aim for 240rwkw my advice is to stop thinking like a cheap ass and go for something that might cost a little more but, actually has design quality behind it. Some of the china intercooler kits even with longer tubing are going to run rings around that one in performance and thats not saying much. Performance being real measured results and not "it feels laggier...." or " it seems much faster....". At the very least if you 'have' to get this intercooler get new end tanks made for it.

Stagea = horny horse

Hi Sydneykid, Since the standard ecu has such a complex interface with the shift maps it makes sense to keep as much of this as you can. To build on what works 'piggy back style' is probably as best as you can get at the moment. Interestingly this is what the emanage ultimate does. It doesn't have a great deal of precision to alter shift parameters but coupled with the alterations possible against vehicle speed/acceleration maps in both fuel and ignition etc it's very much miles ahead of bunging in a power FC for an auto. I can see how this can peg back most of the 'car park' short comings you are talking about. So at the base level auto control the emanage does exactly what the S-afc and ITC do (ie: leave it to the factory ecu) but, unlike the S-AFC combo you can cater for the new power levels more favorably by tweaking the auto's factory control. Not to mention the e-manage is a real tuning device with full 3D mapping, unlike the povo' combo. I'm reffering to the ultimate BTW not the blue meanie. I have a screenshot of the software showing the autoshift alterations occur to the original ecu map. I certainly agree with the issues you have highlighted for other plugin ecu's but, I think on paper the ultimate might be able to do what we want in terms of shift quality. Will have to see how we go when I give it a shot later.

The 9 puck with a 'sprung centre' friction plate and the stock pressure plate is very good. People frequently over-do the pressure plate. The clamping force on the stock R33 unit is quite sufficient for a street driven car. The friction plate does all the work it just needs 'enough' pressure to make it work. The same 9 puck friction plate is in a friends 300+rwkw GTR and has covered 30,000kms of aggressive driving. My old R33 I setup with the 9 puck friction plate and factory stock pressure plate, it feels exactly like stock. It was a low 13/high 12 car and at one stage had a 100+rwhp extra shot of nitrous before selling the kit off to 2rismo over east. So that was plenty of torque and power with no slip. Go extra clamping pressure for more aggressive sustained high rpm driving (like circuit or drift), the trade off is pedal effort and wear on the clutch components. Bung a light weight chromemolly flywheel in while your at it.

sevenseas in mt lawley

I with you on the 'who can tune' angle. Certainly it's the case that the emanage 'blue' has had plenty of early issues . There is also a case generally that no matter what ecu brand there are x number of bad experiences for a variety of reasons. Finding a tuner is often the biggest issue. The best situation to be in is one where you attempt to come to grips with the software interface of whatever ecu you select and gain as much familiarity as you can before buying (sometimes this is easy). To learn how to tune using the interface yourself and knowing the quick locations of each feature enables you to avoid a large amount of tuning pain. Best of all is not re-inventing the wheel so going to the emanage forum is an excellent starting point. I think there are a few people not far from testing an emanage on an auto RB and perhaps one or two with stageas. My decision is still a few months away but, the e-manage ultimate looks to be in front.

I'm not sure which part you wanted me to explain further but, I noticed the 'blunt tools' part in bold so I'll start there. On the S-AFC fou have a 'whopping' 12 load points set by RPM and activated by 2 throttle postion ranges and then you have a S-ITC with even less abillity to target load points at a fine level. It's not that it's a really bad thing, it is afterall very cheap. And for cheap you don't get much tuning required because there isn't much you can tune. You compare that with an ecu that has a full 16x16 Map for ignition and fuel and thats when you see how 'blunt' they are. The S-AFC is such a simple tool a monkey can install and tune it in an hour. I've had a fair bit of experience with the Apexi blue box in it's various models on different cars. None so far with the emanage, although I've spent plenty of time researching it. I haven't suggested people go buy an emanage because ulitmately (pun) you need someone to tune it. If you do then there isn't a point to the 'blue box' appart from being a povo' solution. A car tuned well on the emanage will be far superior.

the emanage ultimate has the abillity to work with the factory kit, it has the auto shift ignition retard as a feature. Certainly a far better option to the S-afc and the ITC, they are horribly blunt tools to tune with by comparison. It will come down to the person you get to tune it. My 2c is learn as much as you can about tuning whatever you get yourself, it saves you money. I am looking at the emanage ultimate myself.

Hi, got one you can have for $20. The pipe you reffer to is the alloy one just after the throttle body with the stock BOV hole in it? PM me if you want it

the hks ss . The high flow turbo's aren't going to be as good but, still good for the price.

You are probably 40kg's on the way with the front end conversion. Then go; * Forged alloy rims - 15kg * carbon tail shaft - 10kg * Ross alloy engine damper - 3kg * Light weight alloy pulleys - 2kg titanium exhaust - 10kg * lightweight flywheel - 5kg * electric fan to replace clutch fan - 1kg That's around 86kg off and the ones marked with * increase the response of the car and improve the accelleration (quite significantly). The best thing is that your car will not have suffered anything for comfort.The car will accellerate, stop, turn corners better and even improve milage without the extra wear and breakage associated with an equivalent power increase. If you are really keen on getting the most out of the car some of these things will cost you a tad but, it is much the same direction taken by the likes of BMW and Porshe to extract the best from the car as a total. The carbon fibre tail shafts are now a standard feature on RX8's and the 350z 'track' for instance.

considering you can make one out of a plastic coke bottle there isn't much to them. The cheap ones are chrome plated usually and this will come off over time. Also the oil level fittings are prone to leak.