ok here's my situation. i have a star stage II system in my house right now. however i've been reading all this ish about people blowing motors left and right with this but people w/ stage I kits seem to be fine. I don't know IF ill upgrade the engine, but WHEN is definetly a long time from now and this is my only car so reliablity is a must.
so i been thinking of selling the II in place of a I.
after that, i could use the difference in money to get a ported/polished head. that will add plenty more horsepower, and it won't be forced in. now, does porting/polishing have any bad effects???
i really want to go with turbo (MWC and i must rule the streets of south florida ) but i have to be honest w/ myself and go with waht i can afford.

all opinions appreciated(i think)
thanks


javi d
vroom n' boom
bone-stock dsm performance

jZa
IHS # fo-six-fo-six

"real men don't ride stick"

Just install the stage 2 and keep the boost down lower. The intercooler will give you an added buffer of security.

Since you have a STAR kit, call Wyatt up about a 5lb. wastegate spring. If later, you wanna up the boost (b/c you have an add'l fuel pump or bigger injectors) buy a boost controller.

As far as boost controlling goes, it's almost better to have a small as possible boost actuator for maximum boost adjustability.


Jason
98' Eagle Talon ESi-T
Mitsu Super 16g Turbo(HRC)


http://springfielddsm.homestead.com/JasonsPics.html

_____________________________________
Jason ESi-T

04' BMW 325Ci
91' Nissan 240SX
98' Eagle Talon ESi (sold)

Agreed with Jason.

Keep the Stage II. It is actually safer because of the intercooler. Keep the boost low and you have the same effect as a stage I, but with a little more power with the addition of the intercooler. Oh, and the more you read about damaged engines should help people learn what not to do or what happens or what to avoid. I have broken a lot of things along the way figuring it out.

MuRiX
97 Eclipse GS HRC Stage II
And a whole lot of other mods...
89 Accord LSi - yes it's mine
http://murix.home.icq.com/index.html

05 Mazda RX-8
06 Lotus Elise

All i can say is dont get greedy on the boost ! Once that
happens its all over for the motor. I can safely say that
pretty much everyone on this board including myself at least
at one point got greedy with the boost, and either cracked some
pistons, or did some other type of damage.

The thing to keep in mind is that you are running tiny 230cc injectors on a turbocharged car.
I would most definately keep the stage2 !!

Yes they are all correct... I just recently ( two weeks ago ) got my Star Stage II installed, and my boost is at 5psi cause I asked for the 7 pound spring on the wastegat . This will give you much security cause of your intercooler, and if your carefull and watch your gauges ie.. boost, air/fuel, egt, and any other one's you have, you should be fine. I'm broke too, and this is my only ride, so I have to be carefull as well. oh ya... and don't get GREEDY with the boost, cause I almost did, but stopped myself cause I keep reading on this board how people keep blowing u

I use to have a White 99 GS Sport with a Star Stage II Ball Bearing T3/T4 turbo...it was fun untill....well those who remember me know Oh Ya...this is what I have now... a 99' GSX...

LAST EDITED ON 06-Mar-01 AT 11:29 PM (PST)

Being the Devil that I am, I just have to mention that "accidentally" setting your boost at 16psi on stock internals is the most amazing rush of acceleration and power I have ever tried....

Now that that's said and done, don't do it!

I set it that high while messing with the manual boost controller because the wastegate on my turbo decided to work only up to 7psi!

Some of the reasons I wasted my engine was that I had my boost set at 10psi and it spiked to 12psi in 1st gear AND I ran 19 back to back passes at the dragstrip in 1 1/2 hour, AND i had my fuel tuned to 0.88 on the O2 sensor voltage Quite lean...

Oh and all this on a 98K mile engine.

Basically what I am trying to say is that our engines can withstand a decent beating, but don't push your luck. If you stay conservative (up to 10psi) you should be just fine. Also make sure your O2 sensor voltages are healthy (about 0.91V and up) meaning good Air to Fuel ratio. Run good gas 92/93 octane and make sure your car isn't burning oil.

Guy
RS_Guy



13.9sec @ 105mph passes
w/ Blown piston rings,
on Stock Internals
at 10psi Boost....

-----
www.GTuned.com

Here's what you need to do. Buy a second in-tank fuel pump, to make sure you get enough fuel. Second, carefully monitor your air/fuel ratios, make sure you have an accurate gauge. Third, be conservative with boost, from what I've read 7psi seems to be the highest safe boost level to run with stock internals daily, boosting at 10psi should be fine for a few track runs.

Keep in mind that I am basing this information off of research I have done, and not off personal experience. I am a few weeks away from having my HRC kit installed.

Have fun!
Easy

Old School 2GNTer
Now rockin an 05 SRT-4

I do not think the second pump is necessary. The inline pump is completely adequate on a HRC setup to provide the 110psi that is being asked for to run 10psi on stock injectors. The pump has been the least of my concerns. If you are going to spend the money on a new pump, and have money to burn on extra fuel components, would it not be better to just spend the extra money on slightly larger injectors, like maybe 270cc's that would still work with the stock ecu and allow you to turn down the required fuel pressure a bit? This would alleviate the original problem rather than band aid it some more. What does the HRC 500CC injectors and fuel mapper cost anyway? I can see where this makes sense from a tuning stand point as it gives you nothing to tune as it already is tuned and works out of the box. Just my thoughts...

MuRiX
97 Eclipse GS HRC Stage II
And a whole lot of other mods...
89 Accord LSi - yes it's mine
http://murix.home.icq.com/index.html

05 Mazda RX-8
06 Lotus Elise

LAST EDITED ON 07-Mar-01 AT 07:49 AM (PST)

Sorry Chris, I just re-read the string and se eyou were referring to the Walbro- intank rathe than the HRC in-line. I'll just use this post as a reminder to use the in-line!

In-line pump importance

The second in-line fuel pump from HRC seems to be the really big difference between the HRC system and the STAR system as far as fuel delivery.

http://www.2gnt.com/dcforum/DCForumID16/259.html

This has yet to be be refuted. It seems to me, once you force our fuel system to deliver amounts of fuel above 90psi or so, you're pushing your luck without the second in-line fuel pump. Heck, since I installed mine running 5-7 psi, I can feel the difference. The car seems "happier" under boost to get the added fuel. Note: I haven't raised the fuel pressure at all either.

This seems to me the main reason why the STAR kit was lean. Even more so the reason than the treachorous vacuum line running to the rear of the car. I think once you go above 5-6 lbs of boost, you better have bigger injectors or a bigger fuel pump.


Jason
98' Eagle Talon ESi-T
Mitsu Super 16g Turbo(HRC)


http://springfielddsm.homestead.com/JasonsPics.html

_____________________________________
Jason ESi-T

04' BMW 325Ci
91' Nissan 240SX
98' Eagle Talon ESi (sold)

thanks for all the replies...
i got another question now, is it the boost(psi) that does the damage or the added horsepower?
because the hrc does more power per psi than the star.
but then again, people with t25 on 4g63 ngines need like 14 to feel power
thanks again


javi d
vroom n' boom
bone-stock dsm performance

jZa
IHS # fo-six-fo-six

"real men don't ride stick"

http://members.dencity.com/xtdsm




>>thanks for all the replies...
i got another question now, is it the boost(psi) that does the damage or the added horsepower?
because the hrc does more power per psi than the star.
but then again, people with t25 on 4g63 ngines need like 14 to feel power
thanks again<<


well let's put it this way, more boost=more HP, but in some cases more boost=less HP. okay okay here is what I mean. let's say you have built up bottom end, and you have knock sensor, if you try to boost high boost without having enough fuel, your knock sensor will sense the knock (lean condition) and will decid to pull the timing which will cause you to loose HP. but if you were to run less boost (well more like as much boost as you can without running lean and causing any knock) this case is true if your bottom end is strong enough and you don't have enough fuel to run more boost. okay this is the case that you have to worry about when you have strong bottom end.

with a stock bottom end, and even if you have tons of fuel and running high boost, you will blow your bottom end, just simply becase our stock pistons and rings were not built to take that much of pressure (psi)

so to answer your question, with stock bottom end, you will luckly blow your bottom end running too much boost. so if you up the boost to get more HP, you will blow your stock bottom end because of the extra pressure you are putting into the stock bottom end.

I hope that makes sense.

Adel