AlanG

ROFL @ Jaay.

Wait 'til you get the boost gauge in. That'll confirm if the car is overboosting or not.

A

[Edited by AlanG - 9/2/2002 12:33:21 AM]

steph e boy

I have been told that u might be able to answer some questions for me i have recently bought a 95 jap ra when i got it it had a hks evc fitted and some other toys , it was set up by the garage for low (standard) boost at 0.7 bar and high at 0.9 (fun boost ) but i think the garage were just being extra safe (warenty ).
do u know the stock boost for my car ?
what is safe boost for my car (closed deck block) ?
would a ecu change be ok with the 5th injector ?
what sort of power could be run safely ?

any help would be greatful
cheers
steph

Devil's Refugee

Just to give you some idea, my car (UK Spec) runs over 18psi at the moment (when it's fixed!) thanks to Mr Banks.
Try Bob Rawle or Andy F also for advice, or post this thread up in the Technical threads to get more coverage.

RB5-Black

Steph : I posted this up in General Tech to get a better response

AlanG

Sounds reasonable for std boost.

Andy's car is an RA of similar vintage which has been running almost double the boost pressure with few complaints, but constant monitoring has ensured it's stayed together.

That and some carefully thought out mods has kept the board running round like headless chickens wondering how the hell he does it!!

A

john banks

Too true Alan!

You are very unlikely to have a closed deck block AFAIK. Rumours abound though.

Standard boost is quite low - about 0.7 bar. Your boost controller will probably keep a fairly flat boost curve which is something to bear in mind.

I gather the injectors are 380s on this model which (if you run rich AFR for safety and keep the duty cycle below 85%) could limit things a bit.

The imports run a lot of ignition advance too so use the best octane possible and consider a booster.

A full decat exhaust (biggest bore your ears can tolerate), an upgraded fuel pump, AFR meter and knocklink would be a good place to start. You will also need to raise your fuel cut - HKS FCD or one of the pneumatic solutions. Your MAP sensor may not read as high as the boost you want to run so you may have no fuel cut at all.

Andy Forrest is your man to speak to since he has achieved about 370 BHP for £1000 spend. There are lists of his mods in drivetrain. Note that he did not just whack the boost up to 1.7 bar, and it actually detted at 1.2 bar on the original exhaust I gather, so there are lots of things to get in place first.

steph e boy

cheers john

steph e boy

where dose andy forrest hang out ?

john banks

In his garage by the sea

See the 355 BHP thread in Drivetrain - mail as per his profile from there.

Jaay

John,
Looking for some advice on my car, I could be being Paranoid, because the car is just reacting the only way it can under its current set up or there could be several problems.

Its an Sti Ra Ltd Vsn2, Closed block and 5th injector. It has a Blitz DV, Apexi cone and HKS Iridium Plugs, std exhaust. This is as far as I have delved so far, only had the car about 3 weeks. As a precaution I changed the oil(mobil 1) and gearbox/Dif (Syntrax). I did the plugs onto Ngk's but the car misfired a lot on idle so put the Iridiums back in, they didnt seem to worn anyway.
It has had the Ecu reset and has been running on 97 mostly with optimax about twice but.... Recently I was caught out when a 'Service' station attendant despite me asking for £20 of Opti he put in 95! Not much I could do as I wasnt watching (lesson learnt). Anyway I thought it would be best to add some millers cvl and drove 15 miles. Since the oil change I did notice the symptoms of overboost and through reading various posts reckoned that it must be down to too much oil, although I put in the standard 4.5L. But it was more recently and again tonight that I got a loud bang around 5-6K revs, the first time I heard it was on that 15 mile Jaunt after putting the millers stuff in. It sounded more it was coming from under my feet rather than the engine. But tonight I heard it and it sounded like it was coming from the engine. I am going to check the Engine Diagnotics to see if there are any codes flashing. It was pretty lound almost like a 'backfire' and has got me a little worried/paranoid. Theres quite a lot more I wanna go into but this probably enough for just now.
Im thinking if this is harmless, I want to concentrate on sorting this overboost problem. The boost itself kicks in around 3.5k-4.5k revs and the shut down is at about 5-6K. What should I do to remedy this, Dawes??Blitz SBC-ID?? Other??

Jaay

My god ive just gone over what ive written and seeing up there it looks more like a bloody christmas list !! But I thought it best to mention everything, Lol.

teknopete

Steph,

Depending on what way u wanna go I can tell u from experience the std Japanese spec early WRX will run upto 22psi constant without any difficulties & with not a lot of "upgrading".
At one stage mine was running peak 26psi holding 24 with the schip fitted. Used the right foot for boost control That was in the early day`s before i knew that psi doesn`t necessarily mean power.
Have to agree with the lads, the man 2 talk to on RA`s front is Andy.

Pete

AlanG

Jaay

I tried Mobil in my car in the past and found oil *usage* to be high. Didn't give out any smoke or anything, just used it. This despite the car at the time having low mileage and few mods.
After that, stayed with the Subaru stuff (Shell Helix) and had no issues. With the car the way it is now, I use Motul 300V and can heartily recommend it, as others will as well.

Mark is trying to arrange another group buy of the stuff if you want to mail him. It's not available in the shops up here to my knowledge but the last group buy was well received.

If you want to stick with Mobil, only criteria is to make sure it's the Motorsport oil, not the std stuff.

re: spark plugs. Did you gap them before you put them in? Depending on how good your coil packs are 0.7mm is about right. Also what type of NGK did you fit?

The bang sounds like a backfire in the exhaust (unburnt fuel igniting in a hot exhaust) Did the car *jolt* when it happened? symptom of overboost.
It can also happen if the spark hasn't ignited the fuel (due to plug gap or weak coil) but self ignites in the exhaust, hence the problem.

What boost are you running? Got a gauge?

Alan

Jaay

Hi Alan,
The oil only went in a week ago and Im gonna get a bit of use out of it first and spend the money on somthing that i need more, although it seems to get recomended, its the 15 50 Motorsport stuff.

The new plugs that I tried were NGK PFR6B's (platinums) I didnt close the gap as I thought they came pre-set? I think I would probably go for the HKS Iridiums again, as they seem to work good in the car at present.

Yep both times I heard the bang It was during overboost.

No gauge as yet although it is my next purchase, which will be tomorrow (Looks at clock, erm I mean Toaday!)Are they easy to wire up? DIY or Garage ?

Unburnt fuel in the exhaust does this mean its running rich?, Det?
Whats the best way to the remedy this. I had a look at and cleaned what I thought were the Boost solonoid pipes but they seemed clean. Do I take the solonoid off and clean it too or does this ever work, seems peeps have had it replaced but still to no avail.

john banks

Does sound like overboost but until you get your gauge you will not know.

I suggest dropping your oil level if necessary so it is about 1/2 way between min and max when warm (4.5L might be a bit much depending on whether you changed the oil filter) and then cleaning out the pipework and solenoid with brake cleaner with the ECU in test mode (ie green connectors together then turn to position II). Have both in and out from the solenoid disconnected and squirt the cleaner in and let it evaporate. Also remove the restrictor hose and clean that too. Let it all dry before starting your engine again.

Sort out the issue before modding the boost control. Do that diagnostic check too.

AlanG

Jaay

NGK 6's are fine. Never known them to be set at the right gap right out the box though.

Set the gap to 0.7/0.8 mm. If the car still runs like a burst couch, reduce the gap to 0.6mm. If the problem goes away, this indicates weak coilpacks.

To fit boost gauge, all you need is a +ve and -ve connection for the backlight and run a 4mm hose between gauge and inlet manifold for the boost pressure.

Although pipes for boost control may look clean etc, the 2 or 3 port solenoid (whichever is fitted) is best to come off to confirm it is working okay.
Although you may be able to hear it click when power is applied to it, it doesn't necessarily mean the unit is opening and shutting. Take it off, blow on the ports to check if it is open or not (should be shut with no power). Apply 12V to it and do the same again. Should be able to blow through the ports no problem.

Don't worry about the unburnt fuel at the moment. Still think it could be the plugs are the issue. That and the boost pressure you *may* be running.

Has this problem happened only recently? Look back at what's changed to indicate where the problem lies. Or has the car been like that since you got it?

Alan

Jaay

Because the car is new to me its hard to say, when I drove it the initial 70 miles from the garage it seemed fine but I dont know if that could be down to my style of driving. What I mean is I was quite timid with the acceleration, not depressing the accelerator all the way. But over the weeks as my confidence in the car grew I pushed it a bit more but I still dont think it was overboosting. The first time i noticed it happened was the day I changed all the oils, so I suppose its pointing in that direction. I used 4.5L and filled the New Oil Filter. So advice would be to drain the oil to halfway mark, When I drained the oil initialy the batsarding stuff came flooding out so ill do when the oil is cold then ??
Are any of you Jap Owners using octane boosters ? Which ones? Ive been reading in the FAQ 'DO NOT USE OCTANE BOOSTERS' Whats the deal with that.
Anyone here live nearish to Inverness as I wouldnt Mind sharing car tips or rather pinching theirs!!!

Ta Heaps Guys for your info
Jonathan

teknopete

Jaay,

Alan`s got it covered on the gauge fitting But if u r still unsure i did a page on my site for just that it`s at http://www.scoobymods.co.uk/boostg01.htm have phun.

BTW on the octane booster issue, i`ve run millers octane+ in the car virtually from the day i got it many moons back, without any problems. The only other 1 I use regular is Millars CVL, tend to
use that for 1/4 ing and trackdays / runs etc.

Sounds like we need 2 get u down to 1 of the meets my friend.
Hmmmm when`s the next biggie ?? How about u nip down to KH on the 8th for the spectacular or KH on the 28th for the SIDC track day??
See u soon

Pete

Jaay

Sweet, looks a cinch. Gonna find me a nice guage now. Get the solonoid off tomorrow, It is the little brown tube about 3inches in height with a small black platic thingme sensor on the top and is situated on the Drivers Turret?? Will carb cleaner be ok to use ??
My search or edit isnt working at the mo for some reason. Even though Ive got cookies on it still keeps going back to the enter pasword screen ??

KH sounds good, ive been meaning to go have a looky for a while now now and the 8th Sounds like a top excuse, apart from this forum there is no-one else up here to exchange info with so this should be good to soak up some info and check out how everone else is doin it.

Anyone put a powerflow zorst on a scoob ??

teknopete

Jaay,

I went to MMV in stirling to have 1 done, after a lot of faffin around the bloke told me he couldnt guarantee i wouldn`t lose power with the system i wanted built and he didn`t think it would flow enough gas (duh) after i`d already been 2 c him TWICE [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img] So i gave it a swerve & ended up with an HKS hiper system Doesn`t fit the rear bumper as well as the custom would have but still does the biz.

BTW the soleniod is the gold thing with three hoses connected to it on the strut. I`ve got pix somewhere but usual dunno where
If i find them I`ll mail u

Pete

Jaay

Top man

Powerflow idea is now out the window !

Jaay

AAArgh This stoopid saga continues!
Ive take the solonoid off and cleaned it well and truely, no problems with air getting through. Drained oil to just below the halfway mark, it was just on the full mark. Reset the ecu

Went for a drive, with disjointed and dislocated fingers in the hope that problem would be sorted. You guessed it, was it f^<k !
So where do I go now, is everyones car like this or are there peeps running Imports without this problem. How bad is it for the engine ? Sometimes the judder can be quite violent. This is well peeing me off now as im sure it didnt do this before. Anyone have more suggestions ?
Boost guage is gonna be here on Tuesday, how exactly will this help tho.
Ta for ur patience.
Will a rolling road help to find potential problems ?

Jaay

BTTT

AlanG

Did you check the plug gap???

Alan

Jaay

I ended up putting the NGK's Back to the shop. The HKS plugs were put back in (they came with the car) as they didnt seem to worn. No misfire but overboost has been happening all the time since I changed engine oil. Solonoid has been cleaned and oil has been drained, although each time I put the dip Stick in it comes out with a different reading (engine cold). When changing oil i put 4.5L in and filled the new oil filter aswell.
it was reading just above the full mark. I noticed on a thread that the oil level should be at the halfway mark so ive drained abbout half a litre and cleaned the MAF sensor. Gonna try now.
Alan have you got a Jap Wrx/Sti do you get overboost, it seems so common that im wondering if anyone doesnt suffer from it !!

AlanG

Never had the overboost problem you describe in over 3 years of ownership.

Oil level best checked when car is cold since oil will have had the chance to drain to sump overnight.

On the dipstick there should be 2 holes. One is minimum, other is maximum. Don't go by the notch cut out on the dipstick.

4.5 litres of oil should include the filter. Hope you didn't fill 4.5 litres then add half a litre for the filter.

A

Jaay

No, course not

'Door slams'
'Hurid Footsteps to Garage'
'Ratchet sounds'
'Glug Glug'
'Ohh Bollox'
'Ratchet sounds'
'Hurid Footsteps'
'Door opens'

Aye definately right oil level .

Serriously, I Drained the oil today but still to no avail. I cleaned the AFM Sensor too (pin type), it had a slight film of oil on it! I also was reading the post about 'Dawes Devices' as I thought this would be a good option, but someone mentioned that the device only brings your boost back it doesnt solve the problem which is essentialy overfuelling?? Im stumped !!

Dougster

Alan, does Jaay not appear to be suffering from the problem I had a couple of months ago.

I had done nothing to my car and it was overboosting to 1.1bar and repositioning of restrictor helped cure fuel-cut.

Got the Dawes on mine now, however the fuel-cut is back and Dawes seems very oily. Will continue to dial it back until such times as I fit a FCD.

AlanG

Hi Dougie

Good thinking Batman, forgot about that one.

Could well be the same problem, but i don't know what boost he's running 'til he gets a gauge in.

A

Jaay

Should be tomorrow, aint it the most anoying thing tho. I mean You cant go booting it everywhere anyway but just knowing that it would play up if you did, messes with the mind.
I am right in thinking that the Dawes device would only cure overboost but it might be hiding what could be a bigger problem. ??

Another pisser is that the nearest Rollin Road is about 100miles away. The local garage dont seem to have much knowledge of these cars except on how to sell them !!
Grumble Grumble Moan Winge etc......