KiwiRS4T

Judging by Toshi's post it would seem he has found a way to reduce the price of the daughterboard and chip or has found another solution altogether. I know that he has many satisfied customers but as far as I know that chip is not user tunable and while the result may be an improvement on the standard tune (and have the ability to remove the speed limiter e.g. ) I want my engine tuned in real time with the appropriate gear ( wide-band, ex temp guage etc) pref on a dyno. However at the prices quoted above Toshi's approach may be a solution for some S1 owners. (My Link is going to cost around $2500 incl boost control function).

Regardless of how cold it is the water will still heat up before the atf. In NZ I am able to buy a generic thicker radiator core with the auto connections and which fits the Stagea through Natrad. I would think they would be available in Aus and would be half the price of getting one custom made. Maybe just ask your local radiator shop to check out the availability of a suitable thicker replacement?

I just wrote a novel for another member so I may as well share it with everyone:The short answer is don't consider it unless you are an electronic whizz like my tuner. Previously I had a pile of piggybacks: an SITC, SAFC, Jaycar IEBC and a Greddy speed limit defender thing to allow me to exceed 180 km/hr and they took a while to wire in but worked OK. I wrote that car off and got another RS4T and started again (couldn't afford a manual or an RS260 but looking back wish I had found the extra for a S2 - would have saved a lot of hassle). I heard of a tuner who said he could chip and tune it for $800 so I gave him the car. It turned out that he thought the Stagea was just like a Skyline R33 which has a 2 row plug for the ecu so that you can just plug in an R32 or Z32 ecu and away you go. Also he was a bit taken aback tofind the auto ecu inside the engine ecu. So he got another ov300 and plug and made an extension loom thus: original plug: plugged into piece of ov300 joined by wires to another stock plug which was plugged into the original ov300. Then he got an R32 plug and joined most of the wires to the loom he had made and plugged an R32 ecu into the R32 plug. Instead of a nistune chip in the R32 ecu he made his own chip and wrote his own software. To cut a very long story short he had trouble getting all the gears to work but finally got there. The original stock ecu (OV300) now controls the auto (or at least it did until I put a manual box in) and the vct and the R32 ecu controls all the engine functions. This took him many hours and the final price to me of $1200 did not reflect all the time he put in to it but he couldn't charge me more because i never would have agreed to start if he had quoted me more. Although it worked I was not that happy because of the number of times he had to have my car to try to get things right over many weeks and I am left with a system that I think no one but him can tune. Now that I am manual I am planning to put a Link (ViPec) in it. That will also do the boost control and get rid of the afm and increase the pool of tuners I can go to. What can you do? My original plan was to get a Greddy E-manage and I think that was the best option for a small outlay and probably your best bet. I believe the wire-in Link could be made to work in a S1 auto but no-one has been game to try yet. If you are planning to keep the car for a while I would recommend converting to manual - it cost me under $2000 parts and labour and in Aus it seems to cost just under $2000 for the parts and nothing for labour if you can do it yourself or otherwise ask around - some people have been ripped off with prices like $5000 for the conversion. Good luck! Bob

Hey somehow I missed the post where you listed your mods and the fact that you had a manual. Go for it! Bolt on your GT3076 and get a tune - you should make up to 220kw . But then you have a decision - if you are happy to ignore the laws that apparently obtain in your state then you will need 550 injectors (around $500) and a Z32 afm ($250 - $300) and a fmic - around $400 (or the Trust smic currrently for sale in the skyline section) then you will see around 270kw+ If you want to appear street legal then you could get your turbo highflowed, stick it backon and sell your GT3076 to someone in a less repressive state! ...and then spend your money on brakes and suspension improvements (if you are allowed).

Ruby going back to SK's original brake thread it would seem if you want to stay with your stock calipers the correct rotors are DBA4909 S (for slotted) and L (for left) and R for right. These also fit S14 200SX and R32GTST I haven't done this myself (went straight to GTT) but a few members report that they are correct.

That may work for a skyline which has a 2 row ecu plug but do you know of it having been done in a Stagea which has a three row plug and unique (close to R34 but not the same) loom?

Don't know anyone who can remap the S1 auto Stagea ecu without getting an expensive daughterboard and chipping that. Tangles has done it but it was a lot more than $800 - $900. The equivalent Skyline has a two row ecu plug so you can just plug in an R32 ecu but then you still need a black box to run your VCT. If you have plans for big power later and you're going manual then a ViPec/Link is the story as you won't need to buy a seperate boost controller or upgrade your afm.

Bet you gave the oncoming traffic a fright!

The short answer is no (that I know of anyway). The symptoms you describe would suggest that damage has already ocurred. The other thing to look for is brownish atf -not just dirty but burnt looking. Nearly all auto trans failures are caused by overheating so unless you already have a decent cooler in addition to the heat exchanger in the radiator your car would probably benefit from an aftermarket cooler (and a change of atf for a quality synthetic one).

Sure you can replace the factory cooler with the PWR. If you add it to the original one it will supplement the cooling effect but that's not what you are looking for - you just want to relocate it and it makes no difference whether you place the original cooler in a new position or put an equivalent unit there. Use the PWR - IT WILL BE OK!!

Do you have any mods at all? As Darrin says if you get your new turbo fitted you won't be able to run too much boost without at least a three inch turbo back exhaust, bigger intercooler and some means of tuning it - Nistune chip if your is a S2 (neo) or something like GReddy E-Manage if S1 (unless you have the money for a Vipec) and a good boost controller. That will take you to over 200awkw but then you will need bigger injectors and AFM (unless you have the Vipec where you can ditch the AFM).

Stop taking those drugs! When you buy something you can do whatever you want with it. Ask your self why you bought it. I gather you bought it because you couldn't find a way to mount your current cooler in a different position so you are going to replace it with a comparable unit. So go ahead and do what you want - you are the master of your Stagea! The S1 Stagea has a tiny exterior cooler and I REPLACED it with the aftermarket one because it was bigger. You are not looking for more cooling you just want to relocate it and the new one you bought is roughly comparable to the stock S2 one so go ahead and fit it where you want. IT will be OK!!!

S1 bolts were same as GTT - they bolted straight on my RS4T with the same bolts...may be different for factory manual and/or 2wd.

I have never had any problem with stock brakes on the road - but then my normal driving style is not hard on the brakes - but on the track after a few high speed stops they felt on the ragged edge and i started taking it a bit easy on the brakes. Now I have GTT brakes all round. I have heat treated slotted rotors and Mintex M1166 pads from Racebrakes. I use Motul RBF600 brake fluid. I have a mastercylinder stopper and braided stainless brake lines. Now when I stand on the brakes from over 200km/hr they feel rock solid all day.

Welcome to Stagea land. Yes the stock RS4T is no ball of fire but with the RIGHT mods can easily become quite zippy right up to 600+awkw if you have lots of money. A front mount and a pod won't do it, especially with the stock exhaust. You don't say if it has an after market bov but if it has the odds are a stock one or a GTR stocker plumbed back as per factory would work better (esp if it is currently venting to atmosphere). Normally the first item should be a 3in turbo back exhaust dumping the cat or knocking the guts out or whatever is legal in your area. Then a bit more boost. By-passing the solenoid is the easist way to do it and not a problem if done correctly. Boost comes from the intercooler pipe to the T and one side goes to the actuator and the other is a vent/bleed to the bov return pipe. Boost can be altered by changing the size of the restrictor in the bleed or sometimes by a crude "boost T" which can be wound up and down to acheive that. Next you need more boost which will start affecting the ecu which is very difficult/expensive to chip but if you go manual then you can use any one of a number of aftermarket solutions. The S1 doesn't come with a boost guage standard so the pipe you see is quite common. The awd attesa system is a Porsche derived system which normall delivers power 95% rear and 5% front until it senses that the rear is losing traction when it will send more power to the fronts. It is controlled by its own computer (unlike earlir, mechanical versions) and sensors on each wheel (which also control the abs) and motion sensors in the middle of the car. The synchro button locks the Attesa in 50/50 mode but only at very low speeds ( say for pulling out of a wet paddock) but once you get up speed the computer takes over again reagrdless of the position of that button. Stock handling is not flash but it can be improved dramatically by installing a much bigger rear sway bar (BNR11XX24mm for example). Next Bilsteins all round with which you can also set your ride height 30 - 45mm lower) there is lots of information on the website nb esp the suspension thread in the stickys above and the brakes thread. There is a load of information in the DIY stick above as well. Good luck!

As Peter says having a thermostat opening a few degrees earlier is going to make no difference on the track. With either thermostat its going to be fully open the whole time you are racing. If you need more cooling (and mine hasn't looked like overheating yet with the stock radiator) you need a bigger capacity radiator and/or oil cooler and a Nismo thermostat would be about as much use as a nismo radiator cap or gear knob.

Pay to get Ruby's overnighted to you and then buy the Walbro from NZ Performance for $165 at your leisure.

Is it any bigger than the stock S2 one? I had one on my S1 ( the biggest one) and it was fine but I thought the S2 one was about the same. Just buy some more hose and you can put it anywhere you like!

Look out for a set of 2 pot rears (e.g. GTT) - you don't have to do front and rear all at once.

Hopefully you have solved it. I had a similar problem with the fronts on a Toyota Corona and after cleaning them up with sandpaper to get rid of all the score marks but without success i figured that there was so much clearance that the pistons were able to tilt and jam. Another set of calipers from the wreckers fixed it. You should be able to test the brakes by seeing if the car will roll away on a very slight incline or be held by sticking brakes.

330hp? No wonder you said it was fast! ...that's over 50% more power than James got in his new RS260 (a few posts down). Let us know what mods you have (that you can tell) when you post up the pics.

Probably still a good idea to remove the brake shoes or at least back them right off. At least it is a simple task and the park brake is the most logical suspect. Also I noticed when I used to have that kind of brake that it was possible if your left foot was in the wrong place for the parking brake to fail to release completely when you pull the lever.

There's a Trust SMIC for sale in the skyline part section. The guy reckons he made 300kw with it (which i think is pushing it a bit) but it would be a good upgrade for anyone wanting to make up to 240 or may 270kw at a stretch. I used to have one and it was great. They are a bit fiddly to fit as the brackets don't line up but the hoses do and still a lot easier than fitting a fmic.