Austarion

JayME wrote:wow that got wordy :P

Sorry

I would actually not bother with a wideband o2 sensor. Sure, it will tell you what the mixtures are, but what's the point if you are sticking with the standard ecu? You cannot adjust them, so you might as well tune by knock and spend the wideband sensor money elsewhere. If you change the ecu and tune the car yourself, then definately get the wideband, but otherwise, I'm of the opinion that it shouldn't be above the ecu swap on a limited budget list. I'm far removed from being the most knowledgeable person here, so if i'm wrong, I would be very keen to know why?

T-man, you still haven't specified what your goals are, so all of this advice we're giving you is just us shooting blind.

What do you want? You can stick with the Starion and have a fun car or buy something else and have a fun car. This is personal preference, and again, any advice is blind until you specify what you want.

What's your target power at the wheels? The tbi sohc can manage around the 150-170rwkw mark from most accounts (not necessarily reliable though - this is where mpi comes in, although you might get lucky without it). If you need more, then consider other options - mpi+cam sohc, twin cam, engine swap, or another car.

You've already got an intercooled model, which is a great start! Next step before spending any money at all is setting a concrete goal. "More power" is very subjective and as such will net you a subjective set of answers.

No need to be sorry thrash! Good to see some enthusiasm about this sort of stuff on the forum (and a bit more conversation full stop)

T-man it wouldn't be the best Starion forum if we recommended you sell it and buy another car LOL That being said there's no denying there's a selection of more modern dohc turbos that will give easier bolt on performance if that's what your after - but the principles remain the same.

Guys guys guys, let me state I love my starion it's by far the most stunning car on the uk roads and I do not want to change.
The point on starting this tread is I wanted the car to be better, I've had various cars in the past rangeing from skyline r33 gtr to high performance fords. Which I loved them all, however none of them make me feel like the way the starion makes me feel. It's wierd, only starion owners know the feeling.
I've now came to the conclusion that if I want the "fling in the back of the seat performance" then I'm going to have to buy another toy.
There is some good advice here and I will start with the basics.

Thanks,
T

T-man wrote: I've now came to the conclusion that if I want the "fling in the back of the seat performance" then I'm going to have to buy another toy.

If you have the ability to buy another toy, then you have the ability to go twin cam, no?

What is your performance goal? I got 13.9 second 1/4 miler performance from a tbi early starion with the stock tc06 turbo.

In your situation (2L widebody model we didnt get here) I would do the following:

TD05H16G turbo & dump pipe upgrade

Fit the dohc pistons, the stock 4g63 starion pistons have thin ring lands & thick rings which means the ring lands crack off the side of the pistons easily. Fitting the later design pistons eliminates this problem. This will ensure your car is reliable & if you have a tuning mishap it will be less likely to blow up. Fit a nice graphite head gasket while the head is off. No need for studs under 20psi.

Fit an apexi safc 2 or similar intercepter 2d tuning device, this means you can tune the mixtures when you boost up the turbo. Also if your car has a fuel cut, fit a electronic fuel cut defender.

Next option is to either buy a wideband & try tuning yourself, or pay for a dyno session to do it, the dyno is better as long as the guy uses knock ears & doesn't just rely on his hearing to detect pinging/knocking, as inaudible detonation is a big problem.

What I have listed above is the absolute best bang for buck you will get from your car, you could keep the boost down & retain the stock pistons for a while but the difference with more boost will give you pants movement.

Heres some food for thought. If you want to double or triple the standard boost of any plain bearing turbo with upgraded thrust washers or what ever or not. They dont last long.

^^^ What Rezone said! :beer