Hi guys,
I'm new to this forum and I'm new to owning a Stagea RS Four. I used to own a WRX but decided that a wagon would suit my needs better.
I got the RS Four and to be honest I'm underwhelmed by it but I suspect it may be due to the way the car's been modded.
It's got a Front Mount, Pod filter, 17's and what look like some extensive boost mods.
It's still got a standard exhaust system and the auto box (which I'll be modding to a manual and full 3" system in the New Year).
I'm no expert but it looks like the computer system has been bypassed to modify the boost and I think the computer is constantly WTFing because It keeps stalling, overfuelling (61L for 400kms last tank), hesitating, the auto box keeps changing erratically, the handling is really crap (which I suspect is from power being fed incorrectly to the wheels) and it starts shuddering very badly at 140kms. My dad used to own a standard wagon and he's been visiting recently for a bit and he gave it a drive and he also says it doesn't feel right at all.
Now I know that after owning a WRX that it's not going to be the same with handling and with being a wagon it's obviously heavier but it feels incredibly slack and the handling really doesn't feel like it should (especially in the wet where I have to nurse the car very very carefully).
There's a button on the dash that I've been told switches the power from the engine to 50/50 front and back wheels from 95 back and 5 front.:
Whenever I switch this on (so the orange light pictured comes on) I'm assuming this is 50/50 mode? Whenever I reverse or go forward very slowly (such as when parking) with this on it feels like it's slipping like mad (my dad thought this might be the CV's but there's no feathering on the tyres) and the car doesn't really turn. With it off it's fine. I suspect this isn't meant to happen.
I've taken some photo's of the mod in the engine bay and put some question marks against things I'm speculating on. Here's the first pic:
The solenoid is being completely avoided in this set up as you can see and I don't think that's right at all. I remember with my WRX that when using a manual boost controller it was added to the stock system to "fool" the computer into pushing out more boost.
Here is a pic of the pipe which I think is supposed to be attached to the wastegate coming from the turbo:
It's not attached at all. This doesn't look right either.
In this pic there is a small clear pipe running from the top of the engine to a boost gauge inside:
Is this meant to be like this? It just seems strange that Nissan would build something in like this to go to an in car boost gauge. Is this supposed to be part of the stock set up?
With my WRX I took out the after market blow off valve and put the factory one back in. I took out the GFB manual boost controller that was tapped into the system. With the intake system I took out the dampening box and put a pipe straight through from a pod filter into the engine. I also took all of the restrictors out of the engine bay and put a full 3" exhaust system on. When I did all of this leaving it as stock as possible having only the intake system, no restrictors and a full 3" Exhaust it was boosting 15 pounds compared to the standard 10 with the same computer and everything. The stock BOV sounded really mean too because there was a lot of air in the system.
I suspect if I do something similar with my RS Four and leave it as stock as possible that I'll get much better results then the set up that it's currently running.
I've also tried hooking the pipes from the boost tee up to the solenoid and when I do that I got unlimited boost, which I QUICKLY changed back.
Like I said before I don't claim to be an expert by any means and all I've done is after some research online, having owned a WRX, speaking to my dad (who knows his stuff on big mining machinery and a bit about cars but not really turboed cars) and some speculating is come up with the conclusion that this doesn't look right at all and I'm looking for some advice from people who know what they're doing.
THANKS
